Wayne Enterprises is a multinational company, majority owned by Bruce Wayne. He uses resources from the company for his crusade as Batman.
History
Earth-One
Wayne Enterprises was the company owned by Bruce Wayne, which had a market value of twenty seven million four hundred thousand dollars ($27,400,000.00).[1] Bruce founded Wayne Enterprises shortly after he created the Wayne Foundation and he became the president and chairman of the company.
In order to handle his business affairs as well as as his vigilantism, Bruce placed the offices of Wayne Enterprises in the Wayne Foundation building, which allowed him to work near his penthouse/base of operations. When the workload of Wayne Enterprises became too large to handle by himself, Bruce appointed Lucius Fox, a renowned businessman, as his second in command, who was in charge of dealing with Wayne Enterprises financial and stock management.[2]
Wayne Enterprises almost fell in the hands of Poison Ivy, who drugged and hypnotized all members of the board including Bruce Wayne and forced them to sign legal documents that would help her gain the company.[3] Her plan was thwarted by Batman and Robin at the last minute, allowing Bruce to recover his company.[4] Due to these events, Bruce decided to resign to his position as CEO of Wayne Foundation and Wayne Enterprises and he handed the job to Lucius, giving him total control over the company on his behalf.[5]
New Earth
Early History
Wayne Enterprises was officially created in the 19th century and thus is one of the oldest companies in the world. It began as a dozen merchant businesses started by Judge Solomon Wayne and his brother Joshua. With the money made, Judge Wayne essentially built Gotham City by hiring Cyrus Pinkney.
Judge Wayne's son and heir, Alan, used his father's wealth and turned both the Wayne Shipping and the Wayne Chemical companies into Gotham City. Wayne Manufacturing soon followed as the fourth branch of the company. All these companies were energized and powered by the world's Industrial Revolution and they kept changing; more branches were opened and built while others dwindled and were discarded. Along the years, it has developed from a merchant house to a large multinational conglomerate company that stands among the biggest in the world with only a few rivals such as LexCorp.
Wayne Enterprises became a green company under the control of Patrick and Laura Wayne and has been environmentally conscious from that time forward. Even when environmentalism wasn't a fad or a necessity, Wayne Enterprises followed those ideals. At the turn of the 20th century, Wayne Enterprises was the city in many ways and even now they employ the largest part of the city's considerable workforce.
Modern History
Through two World Wars and the great recessions the company has come through and with the help of Lucius Fox it now stands as the forerunner in many fields of technology. WayneCorp changed its name to Wayne Enterprises in the 1980's. It has been able to rejuvenate itself many times and has been able to survive and stand tall even after the Cataclysm and the Billion Dollar Build-Up where its efforts were far greater than LexCorp's.
The company spans the globe and is a large power in the global marketplace and even though the Billion-Dollar Build-Up was a large strain on Wayne Enterprises, it has quickly bounced back to be a true force to be reckoned within the global community. Its main headquarters are in the Wayne Tower in Gotham. There are branch offices and headquarters all over the world, with the second-largest office tower in New York City.
Of course, Wayne Enterprises is much more than just a place for Bruce Wayne to make money. It is the best way for Batman to get information, news, and rumors from the corporate world. The companies of today are nations unto themselves and they are great forces to be reckoned with. There is also the fact that even though Bruce Wayne is a jet-setting playboy, he works too and Wayne Enterprises gives a great cover story for zipping to wherever and whenever.
At some point, Wayne Enterprises acquired Kord Industries.
Branches
Wayne Enterprises has many branches. The company owns mining companies, shipping, oil drilling and refineries, food, and agricultural productions and agricultural technology being produced. Some of the most significant things to the normal consumer are consumer electronics like Hi-Fi systems and computers and Wayne Enterprises is one of the leading companies worldwide developing these technologies.
It is important to mention that almost every single one of the branches provide information, technology and contacts for Batman to operate and keep his investigations ahead of local law enforcers and federal agencies.
Following is a list of the most notable subdivisions of Wayne Enterprises.
Wayne Security
Main article: Wayne Security
Wayne Technologies
- First appearance:
- As Wayne Research: DC Special Series #27
- As WayneTech: Batman #443
Wayne Technologies is the biggest single branch underneath the Wayne Enterprises umbrella of companies. As alien invasions and involvement have become more commonplace, WayneTech has acquired alien technology and used it for research & development. This has boosted WayneTech's technology and science levels to rival LexCorp. Thanks to Wayne Technologies, Batman has access to any conceivable piece of technology he might need, including superalloys, nanotech and biotech.
Other subsidiaries of WayneTech include Holt Holdings Inc., Wayne Biotech, Wayne Pharmaceuticals, and Wayne Healthcare. Thanks to all this, Batman has access to any kind of medical facility or procedure, from normal to special or experimental applications, information, and medical analysis. Through the company, he also has access to medical files on everyone in Gotham.
Wayne Biotech
- First appearance:
- As Wayne Pharmaceuticals: Batman #215
Wayne Biotech is the company mostly responsible for the Gotham healthcare system. The company itself is a facility for researching and developing new and better medical procedures and systems. The company trains and teaches a huge amount of people annually. It has a good working relationship with the Gotham University and Drake Medical.
Wayne Chemicals and Wayne Pharmaceuticals work closely with Wayne Biotech to develop new medicines for different diseases. This garners Wayne Biotech a high media profile and reflects well on the rest of the company.
Batman uses Wayne Biotech as a research tool for finding medical information, patient histories, information on illnesses, and thus clues.
FoxTech
- First appearance: Detective Comics #943
FoxTech was originally founded by Luke Fox, also known as Batwing, with a focus on technology that could help fix Gotham City and combat its crime. As such, the first public invention of the company was a nonlethal arsenal for the use of the GCPD. Tamara Fox soon stepped in as Acting CEO[6], however, amidst Luke's increasing amount of time spent with the Gotham Knights as Batwing.
After the Joker War, Lucius Fox, the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, had the company acquire FoxTech, bringing in his son Jace Fox as the scion of his new empire.
Wayne Aerospace
Wayne Aerospace is mostly known for its extremely well built, luxurious and exclusive corporate and private jets and airliners. Much like the Gulfstream, Wayne Enterprises tries to keep the Slipstream corporate jets out of the hands of rock and sports stars and sells them mostly to corporations. This, in turn, has made the Slipstream into a cult item among the rich because it is fashionable to have a plane that you shouldn't really have. Wayne Aerospace's experimental aviation branch produces experimental and the research planes built for the United States government and NASA. The military aviation branch designs and manufactures highly successful jet fighters and helicopters for the US military. The most notable models of these are the W-4 Wraith fighter and the Kestrel attack helicopter. As the most prominent aerospace company in the region, Wayne Aerospace has a working partnership with Eagle Air Force Base near Gotham City.
Furthermore, Wayne Aerospace is responsible for maintaining the systems and airplanes for the Archie Goodwin International Airport in Little Stockton, in Gotham. Wayne Aerospace maintains level-headed and good-natured competition with other aerospace corporations like Ferris Air and LexAir.
Wayne Chemicals
- First Appearance: Batman #407
Wayne Chemicals has always been good at developing new compounds and chemicals, but its emphasis was shifted to research and development in the 1980s. Because of the oil fields and refineries Wayne Oil now owns, it has also started to do research in petrochemicals even more than before. At the same time, it has concentrated a huge effort towards alternative fuel sources. Wayne Chemicals is the first company to have created a power generator using algae.
Wayne Chemicals is the branch responsible for developing some of Batman's equipment for crime-fighting and surveillance, making use of the technology developed by them in the area of lightweight, durable plastics.[7]
Wayne Chemicals controls such branches of Wayne Enterprises as Wayne Oil, Wayne Pharmaceuticals, and Wayne Botanical. Wayne Oil gives Batman a direct link to OPEC and other oil organizations and companies. Wayne Pharmaceuticals is another one of Wayne Chemicals' large R&D branches.
Wayne Shipping
Wayne Shipping is the second oldest branch of Wayne Enterprises and in many ways, one of the most successful ones. For over a century Wayne Shipping has been the market leader and the leading player in shipping lines, especially in Trans-Atlantic routes. The company owns dozens of freighters which are usually booked solid. Wayne Shipping usually handles three and a half billion tons of freight each month.
Wayne Shipping is Batman's direct pipeline into knowing other shipping companies' reputations and what they are doing. Knowing people in the shipping business gives Batman a great inside view into smuggling and drug trafficking, not to mention more money.
Wayne Foundation
Main article: Wayne Foundation
The Wayne Foundation is a group of different foundations working under one umbrella. The Wayne Foundation proper funds scientific research and helps people with research by providing facilities and training. If there is a technological breakthrough, WayneTech or some other Wayne Enterprises subsidiary steps in to help. The only cost of this assistance is that Wayne Enterprises reserves the right to veto selling the patent or letting the patent be used.
The Thomas Wayne Foundation is a foundation for medicine and medical help. This foundation gives annual awards for medical breakthroughs and lifelong commitment, similar to the Nobel Foundation. The Thomas Wayne Foundation is also responsible for funding the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic in Park Row, Gotham's infamous Crime Alley. The foundation funds and runs dozens of other free clinics all over the city and in other troubled cities like Blüdhaven. Bruce Wayne's surrogate mother, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, ran the Memorial Clinic in Crime Alley and governed the other clinics until recent events that caused her to leave Gotham permanently.
The Martha Wayne Foundation is a patron and supporter of arts, families, education and tolerance. The foundation supports and helps to run a number of orphanages and free schools, and provides teachers for those who have learning difficulties. Artists can apply for grants from the foundation to help support them in furthering the arts. The foundation sponsors companies like Family Finders Inc. in Gotham. Family Finders is an organization directed at finding lost people and uniting families. The foundation sponsors and runs dozens of soup kitchens within the city.
Through the Wayne Foundation and the organizations underneath, Batman has a very large network of connections in the world of charities. He finds out about the newest trends and newest arts, but at the same time, he has tapped into the streets through the soup kitchens and social services groups.
Wayne Industries
Wayne Industries is a research and development company for all things industrial -- from heavy machines to engines to motors, pneumatic systems, and large scale systems. The company studies, researches and develops cleaner, mechanical fission and fusion power plants.
Wayne Industries owns many factories and normal labor units, from manufacturing cars to making cloth and so on. It's a known fact that Wayne Industries has several factories in Gotham that do not actually turn out a profit, but whenever Bruce Wayne is questioned about them he doesn't seem to mind them. Wayne Mining is also a part of Wayne Industries, along with the few power stations the company owns. Wayne Mining mostly produces gold and some precious stones in Africa. They are the branch in Wayne Industries that makes the second most profit, after the research and development arm.
Wayne Medical
- First appearance:
- As Wayne Institution: Detective Comics #509
Initially located in Long Island, the institution was dedicated to bio-chemical medical research, with experts in the science of biology.
With time, the Wayne Institution became Wayne Medical, the sister company to Wayne Biotech, with different fields of study and work. Wayne Medical does study cancer and AIDS with Wayne Biotech, but Wayne Medical's primary mission is the force behind the Gotham healthcare system.
Wayne Medical is focused more on treating illnesses than researching them. Wayne Medical is renowned for its level of expertise in treating the sick and for the fact that it shares its facilities with the free clinics. It maintains and runs many hospitals in Gotham City and helps the Foundation with the orphanages. It is quite possible that the medical equipment Bruce Wayne needed after Bane broke his back was provided by Wayne Medical.[8]
Wayne Electronics
Wayne Electronics is a large consortium that manufactures almost anything from portable radios to stereo and Hi-Fi systems, movie cameras, cameras, and electronics, measuring devices, scanners, surveillance equipment, computers and other electronics devices. Wayne Electronics is one of the top selling brand names in electronics, from multimedia to precision systems. Its other branches of business include information technology, wired networks, wireless networks and space exploration systems and satellites.
Wayne Entertainment
Wayne Entertainment is in many ways in direct competition with WGBS, Galaxy Communications and LexCom (Scott Telecommunications was a former rival, bought out at 3 times market value). Most of those companies along with other television and movie companies provide the same services as Wayne Entertainment, but there is an ace up Wayne Entertainment's sleeve.
The Daily Planet newspaper, where Clark Kent and his wife, Lois Lane, work, is owned by Wayne Entertainment.[9]
Wayne Steel
- First Appearance: World's Finest #73
The Wayne Steel plant and works are the oldest steel mills and one of the oldest shipyards in Gotham City and have nearly as much fame as the Newport News Shipyards. The Wayne Steel shipyards date back to the founding of the Tricorner naval yards. As the government's own naval shipyards started to pull out from Gotham, Wayne Steel moved in and purchased them for WayneYards, or Wayne Shipbuilding.
Wayne Steel is one of the oldest steel mills and metal refineries in Gotham and perhaps in the USA as well. They have always had a great working relationship with Gotham-based shipyards. Because of the high quality of their steel, they have also supplied shipyards outside of Gotham with steel.
Wayne Shipbuilding
Wayne Shipbuilding, also known as WayneYards, is a venerable and respected shipyard in Gotham City and the world. Along with the Newport News Shipyards, WayneYards is responsible for a large number of the naval warships, commercial and private ships that are built. Even though the Newport facilities might appear to be WayneYards' prime competitor, it is actually the Japanese and Korean shipyards that are Wayne Shipbuilding's main competitors for civilian and merchantmen ships.
Wayne Foods
Wayne Foods is a little-known subsidiary of WayneTech as it is a fledgling company. It runs quite a few farms and cattle ranches in the Breadbasket area of the United States, as well as importing beef from Argentina and other countries. Wayne Foods produces specialized products like ecological foods, natural lines with no additives and controlled growing.
Wayne Financial
Wayne Financial is a subsidiary of Wayne Enterprises in the DC Extended Universe. The company had a branch building in Metropolis which was destroyed in battle betweem Superman and Zod, killing many employess and crippling one security guard, who's legs required amputation. After Superman was brought back to live and the Justice League defeated Steppenwolf and his Parademons. Bruce, as a way of making amends with Clark used Wayne Finanical to buy the Smallville Savings & Loans and gifted the Kent Farm back to his mother Martha Kent as well as paying for improvements for the house.
Notes
- While "Wayne Enterprises" first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #113 (1974); many of the of the company's branches appeared years prior:
- "Wayne Steel" first appeared in World's Finest #73 (1953), making this the first official appearance of a Wayne business company.
- The second mention to any sort of company owned by Bruce Wayne was the "Wayne Construction Corporation"[15] and the third was the "Wayne Mining Company".[16]
- The fourth branch that appeared in comics was "Wayne Pharmaceuticals", which first appeared in Batman #215 (1969).
- Wayne Enterprises has an estimated 15,000 employees.[citation needed]
- The company acquired New Hope Pharmaceuticals in an attempt to keep the formulae for Neurotrol "locked away for good".[17]
Trivia
- Wayne Enterprises builds all of its properties able to withstand an earthquake of at least 8.5 on the Richter magnitude scale.[18] They are also all installed with ramps to be completely wheelchair accessible.[19]
See Also
- 514 Appearances of Wayne Enterprises
- 3 Images that include Wayne Enterprises
- Organization Gallery: Wayne Enterprises
Links
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Wayne Enterprises. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Footnotes
- ↑ The Brave and the Bold #113
- ↑ Batman #307
- ↑ Batman #339
- ↑ Batman #344
- ↑ Detective Comics #511
- ↑ Detective Comics #959
- ↑ Batman #407
- ↑ Batman #498
- ↑ Batman: Hush provides evidence of this as Wayne specifically refers to his ownership of the paper during a visit to the paper's offices.
- ↑ The Flash: "Pilot"
- ↑ Batman Beyond: "Rebirth"
- ↑ Batman (Volume 3) #132
- ↑ Batman (Volume 3) #135
- ↑ Batman Beyond: Neo-Gothic #1
- ↑ Detective Comics #237
- ↑ World's Finest #88
- ↑ Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #204
- ↑ Batman #553
- ↑ Batman: Shadow of the Bat #73
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