The city of Akron – well, mostly the Akron Beacon Journal – got all misty eyed over Bridgestone’s decision to change the name of its North American units, dropping the Firestone name as part of its new corporate monikers.
That only took 20 years and billions of dollars.
The Beacon Journal ran a story the other day bemoaning the change, trying to illustrate how the Firestone name is so ingrained in the Akron community.
So were the General and BFGoodrich names. And Seiberling and dozens upon dozens of tire brands that started in Akron but have passed on. But never mind.
The Firestone name is far from going away; it will remain one of the rechristened Bridgestone Americas primary tire brands, which (truth be told) is all it really has been for the past decade.
Forgive the Beacon Journal folks, though. Since the first tire company up and left town, it has failed to come to terms with the reality of modern business. Without Bridgestone’s $2.8 billion purchase (or “merger of equals,” to borrow Bridgestone’s original term), it is likely the Firestone name and legacy would have been put to rest long ago. Completely.
Meanwhile, I am glad for the name change. It eliminates a veritable alphabet soup of abbreviations and acronyms and corporate names that required extra-wide business cards and three extra lines of space in the magazine. Now we can cover it all with “Bridgestone Americas.”
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– Jim Smith
