WD-40 Company
Household & Specialty Chemical ProductsFounded 1953- Updated July 2025
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Last reviewed: July 2025
CorpDigest
WD-40 Company
Company History
Founded 1953 in San Diego, California
Last reviewed: 2025-07-15T00:00:00Z · By Swet Parvadiya
Norman Larsen was trying to solve a corrosion problem in 1953. The Rocket Chemical Company in San Diego needed a water-displacing lubricant for the Atlas missile program — something that could protect the rocket's metal surfaces from rust during storage. Larsen's team ran 39 failed attempts before the fortieth formulation worked. Water Displacement, 40th attempt. The name was a lab notation that stuck.
The first commercial consumer product appeared in 1958, packaged in an aerosol can after company employees noticed Larsen's formula being borrowed to loosen stuck bolts and silence squeaking doors. The Rocket Chemical Company went public in 1973 and renamed itself the WD-40 Company, acknowledging what its actual business had become.
The strategic decision not to patent the formula happened during this period. Patent protection would have disclosed the composition, invited competitors to develop alternatives the moment the patent expired, and created a clock on the company's competitive advantage. The trade secret, stored physically, has no expiration date. That decision shaped everything that followed.
The acquisition of 3-IN-ONE Oil in 1990 was the first meaningful portfolio expansion — a product with its own category leadership in drip-application lubricants. Subsequent deals added Spot Shot carpet cleaner, the 2000 Flushes toilet bowl cleaner brand, Lava and Signal hand cleaners in 2012, and Gel Gloss automotive care in 2016. These products occupy different categories from WD-40 and generate revenue through the same retail distribution network, improving the economics of each shelf relationship.
Norman B. Larsen was the visionary chemist and primary founder of the Rocket Chemical Company, which later became WD-40 Company. Working out of a rudimentary lab in post-WWII San Diego, Larsen was tasked with developing a rust-preventative solvent for the Convair Corporation's Atlas missile program, a project that was critical to the United States' Cold War defense strategy. After 39 catastrophic failures that nearly bankrupted the startup, Larsen finalized the 40th formula on September 23, 1953, creating the iconic WD-40 solution that perfectly met Convair's exacting specifications. His most critical strategic decision, made in the early 1960s, was to keep the formula a closely guarded trade secret rather than patenting it, a move that avoided the 20-year expiration clause of patents and created a perpetual monopoly on the chemical composition, a decision that remains the foundation of the company's $2.8 billion market capitalization and 80% market share in the penetrating oil category. Although Larsen eventually sold his controlling interest to John George and Sam Crivello to focus on other ventures, his chemical genius and insistence on trade secret protection remain the foundation of the company's success, a testament to the enduring power of a simple, effective solution to a universal problem and the strategic brilliance of protecting that solution as a trade secret rather than subjecting it to the limitations of the patent system. The legacy of Norm Larsen lives on in every can of WD-40 sold around the world, a legacy of resilience, innovation, and strategic brilliance that has allowed the company to thrive for over seven decades.
Norm Larsen successfully develops the 40th iteration of a rust-preventative solvent for the Convair Corporation, creating the foundational formula for the WD-40 brand and saving the Rocket Chemical Company from imminent bankruptcy after 39 catastrophic failures.
Following the observation of employees using the product personally, the company launches the first consumer-grade aerosol can, generating $4,500 in first-year revenue and pivoting the business from industrial 55-gallon drums to retail, a decision that saved the company and created a global brand.
A massive fire destroys the primary manufacturing facility, but the company manages to rebuild and resume full production within 90 days through 24-hour shifts and executive financial guarantees, a testament to the company's operational agility and resilience.
WD-40 Company is spun off from its parent entity and begins trading over-the-counter, providing the capital necessary to fund national distribution and marketing campaigns across the United States, a milestone that marked the company's transition from a private startup to a public powerhouse.
The company acquires the iconic 3-IN-ONE oil brand, marking its first major diversification beyond the core WD-40 Multi-Use Product and expanding its footprint in the precision lubricant category, a strategic move that established the template for future heritage brand acquisitions.
Celebrating its 40th anniversary, WD-40 announces the sale of its one billionth aerosol can, solidifying its status as a global household staple and a dominant force in the maintenance category, a milestone that reflected the brand's immense cognitive dominance and global reach.
WD-40 acquires the Spot Shot carpet stain remover, X-14 mildew stain remover, and 2000 Flushes aerosol bathroom cleaner brands, aggressively entering the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) household cleaning market, a strategic move that diversified the company's revenue base and reduced its reliance on the core automotive maintenance category.
The company acquires the Lava brand of heavy-duty hand cleaners from Block Drug, securing a dominant position in the professional and industrial hand cleaning segment with pumice-based formulations, a strategic acquisition that complemented the company's existing automotive maintenance portfolio and provided access to specialized distribution channels.
The company executes a major expansion of the WD-40 Specialist line, introducing over a dozen new high-performance, professional-grade lubricants and cleaners to capture the upmarket maintenance market, a strategic pivot that has driven 8% annual growth in the segment and expanded gross margins by 200 basis points.
Garry Ridge retires as CEO after a 25-year tenure, and Steve Brass assumes the role of President and Chief Executive Officer, initiating a new strategic phase focused on global emerging market expansion and the continued innovation of the Specialist line, a transition that marked the beginning of a new chapter in the company's history.
WD-40 acquired the iconic 3-IN-ONE brand to diversify its portfolio beyond the core multi-use aerosol and capture the precision lubricant market, targeting tool enthusiasts and small engine mechanics who required a non-aerosol, drip-oil application method.
In an aggressive move into the household cleaning market, WD-40 acquired these three heritage brands from S.C. Johnson to utilize its exceptional retail execution and trade marketing capabilities, expanding its footprint into the fast-moving consumer goods space.
WD-40 acquired the Lava brand from Block Drug to secure a dominant position in the heavy-duty, pumice-based hand cleaning category, leveraging the complementary nature of the product to the core automotive maintenance portfolio and accessing specialized janitorial distribution channels.
WD-40 acquired the Gel Gloss automotive care brand to expand its footprint in the premium car care category and launch a comprehensive line of automotive wash, wax, and interior cleaners, capturing a larger share of the consumer's automotive maintenance wallet.
WD-40 Company was founded in 1953 in San Diego, California as the Rocket Chemical Company by Norman B. Larsen, Gordon Dawson and John B. Gregory, a three-person operation working out of a small lab. The team's mission was to develop a rust-prevention solvent and degreaser for the aerospace industry, specifically to protect the outer skin of the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile from rust and corrosion at the Convair facility. The name WD-40 is a literal lab notation. WD stands for Water Displacement and 40 records the fact that the formula chemists landed on was the fortieth attempt to crack the formulation. The first 39 mixtures failed before the team produced a stable water-displacing solvent that could be applied as a thin film. Convair adopted the formula in 1953, and employees began smuggling samples home in lunch pails to fix squeaky hinges and stuck locks. That household demand convinced founders to package the solvent in an aerosol can for consumers in 1958, and the product moved onto hardware store shelves across Southern California. Rocket Chemical formally renamed itself WD-40 Company in 1969 to match the brand that had taken over its revenue.
The product made its leap to consumer shelves in 1958 when Rocket Chemical packaged the solvent in an aerosol can, five years after first supplying it to Convair for the Atlas missile program. Convair workers had already been taking samples home in lunch pails to free stuck bolts, lubricate hinges and protect tools, which proved the latent consumer demand. The aerosol format made the product self-service for hardware stores and supermarkets. Distribution spread first across Southern California, then nationally during the 1960s as the founders pushed into automotive parts stores, hardware chains and grocery channels. By 1969 the WD-40 brand was generating the majority of the parent company's sales, prompting Rocket Chemical to formally rename itself WD-40 Company. The company went public in 1973 to fund advertising and distribution expansion. The blue and yellow can with the red top became one of the most recognized packages in American hardware, with consumer research repeatedly placing WD-40 in over eighty percent of U.S. households and giving the brand the unusual status of a generic noun for any spray lubricant.
WD-40 Company completed its initial public offering in 1973, twenty years after the formula was first sold to the Convair Atlas missile program and fifteen years after the consumer aerosol launched in 1958. The IPO raised growth capital that the founders used to expand distribution into national hardware, automotive and grocery accounts, build out a sales force capable of supporting category captain status at major retailers, and fund advertising that cemented WD-40's brand recognition. Going public also created liquidity for the founding shareholders and an equity currency that the company would later use to acquire complementary brands such as 3-IN-ONE Oil in 1995 and Lava soap in 1999. The stock has traded on Nasdaq for most of its life and the company carries a market capitalization of roughly $2.8 billion on annual revenue around $620 million. The relatively small float and disciplined dividend payments have made the stock a long-duration holding for income investors, and the company has prided itself on more than three decades of consecutive dividend payments without cutting through the 2008 financial crisis or the 2020 COVID-19 downturn.
WD-40 Company is headquartered in San Diego, California, the same city where founders Norman Larsen, Gordon Dawson and John Gregory started Rocket Chemical in 1953. The company has remained in San Diego for more than seven decades, with executive offices, R&D, and global brand management concentrated at the headquarters campus. The workforce numbers approximately 440 employees worldwide, an unusually small headcount for a company generating about $620 million in revenue and carrying a $2.8 billion market capitalization. The lean structure is intentional. WD-40 outsources nearly all of its production to a network of contract fillers across the United States, Europe, Asia, and Latin America, which lets the company concentrate internal resources on brand marketing, retail relationships, and R&D rather than capital-intensive manufacturing. The geographic segmentation is split into Americas, EIMEA covering Europe, India, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific, each run with regional sales and marketing teams. The high revenue-per-employee ratio is one reason the stock has historically traded at a premium consumer-staples multiple despite its modest absolute size.
WD-40 Company sells maintenance products organized around two main pillars. The Multi-Purpose Product, the flagship blue and yellow can that traces back to the 1953 formula, contributes more than 80 percent of total company revenue and remains the dominant SKU across hardware, automotive and grocery retail. The WD-40 Specialist line, launched in the 2010s, extends the brand into specific use cases such as silicone lubricant, dry lube with PTFE, white lithium grease, electrical contact cleaner, rust release penetrant and protective long-term corrosion inhibitor. The third leg is 3-IN-ONE Oil, the household lubricating oil brand acquired in 1995, which sits in the same retail aisles. Over the past two decades the company has actively narrowed its portfolio, selling off non-core household cleaning brands including Lava soap in 2015, X-14 in 2009, Carpet Fresh in 2009 and Spot Shot in 2014. The result is a focused maintenance products company that operates in roughly 176 countries and reports through three geographic segments: Americas, EIMEA, and Asia-Pacific. Total revenue is approximately $620 million annually.