The Gore Story
The story of Gore spans 6 decades, multiple continents and a variety of industries. Get a glimpse of our history with these facts about the enterprise and the recognition we've received.
Overview
- W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc., was founded January 1, 1958, in Newark, Delaware, by Wilbert L. (Bill) and Genevieve (Vieve) Gore.
- Today, with $3.8 billion in annual revenues, the enterprise is privately owned. Our more than 11,000 employees (called Associates) worldwide are also part owners of the enterprise through the Associate stock ownership plan. Gore prefers this private ownership and believes this reinforces a key element of its culture to “take a long-term view” when assessing business situations.
- Gore has been recognized by Forbes as one of the 200 largest privately-held U.S. companies.
- By using proprietary technologies with the versatile polymer polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), Gore has created numerous products for medical implants; fabric laminates; and cable, filtration, sealant, membrane, venting and fiber technologies for diverse industries.
- Gore has more than 3,400 unique inventions worldwide in a wide range of fields, including electronics, medical devices and polymer processing.
- More than 50 million innovative Gore medical devices have been implanted, saving and improving the quality of lives worldwide.
- Gore has offices in more than 25 countries, with manufacturing operations in the U.S., Germany, United Kingdom, China and Japan.
Our History
Founders Bill and Vieve Gore started W. L. Gore & Associates in the basement of their home in 1958. The company initially served the electronic products market. Gore has achieved long-term success at translating dreams into tangible, valuable realities for customers and communities around the world.
The 1969 discovery by Bill and Vieve's son, Bob Gore, of a remarkably versatile new polymer led the enterprise into myriad new applications in medical, fabric, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, oil and gas, aerospace, automotive, mobile electronics, music and semiconductor industries. As the company that invented this new polymer, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (or ePTFE), and introduced it in the marketplace, Gore is committed to remaining a leader in fluoropolymers.
The depth of Gore’s technical know-how has contributed to a wide range of processes and creative, reliable technologies that continue to solve problems and change outcomes for people around the world.