Société Bic is a company based in Clichy, France, founded in 1945, best known for making inexpensive disposable products including cigarette lighters, magnets, ballpoint pens, and shaving razors. It competes against Faber-Castell AG, Global Gillette, Newell Rubbermaid and Stabilo. The Bic pen, more correctly titled the Bic Cristal, is possibly the company's best known product. Image File history File links Logo_bic. ... Clichy (sometimes unofficially called Clichy-la-Garenne) is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... A metal naphtha lighter A lighter is a device used to create fire with the intent to ignite another substance such as a cigarette, smoking pipe, or charcoal in a grill. ... Iron filings in a magnetic field generated by a bar magnet A magnet is an object that has a magnetic field. ... A papermate PhD Multi ballpoint pen A ballpoint pen, also eponymously known as a bíró (pronounced bee-row or bye-row depending on location), is a modern writing instrument. ... A razor is an edge tool (primarily, used in shaving). ... Faber-Castell are a German manufacturer of writing instruments, founded in 1761 by Kaspar Faber. ... Global Gillette (formerly The Gillette Company) was founded by King C. Gillette in 1901 as a safety razor manufacturer. ... Newell Rubbermaid is a manufacturer of home organization products, such as plastic outdoor storage sheds in various sizes (which are made by blow-molded panels), kitchen, hardware, seasonal, cleaning products such as brooms, dustpans, and refuse containers, and commercial items. ... Stabilo is a German-Malaysian maker of pens for writing and coloring as well as highlighters for office use. ... Bic Cristal ballpoint pen The Bic Cristal is an inexpensive, mass-produced yet reliable ballpoint pen. ... Bic Cristal ballpoint pen The Bic Cristal is an inexpensive, mass-produced yet reliable ballpoint pen. ...

History

BIC was founded in France by Marcel Bich with Edouard Buffard in 1945. The two bought a factory and set up a business making parts for mechanical pencils and fountain pens. In December 1950, Marcel Bich introduced his own ballpoint pen, and named it the BIC. The 'h' from Bich was dropped in order to avoid a potentially inappropriate English pronunciation of the name. Although the pens weren't entirely new (Bich obtained patent rights from Hungarian inventor, László Bíró), the process of manufacturing was. An inexpensive, and at the same time reliable, ballpoint pen was introduced to the world. In early September 2005, BIC announced that it has sold its 100 billionth disposable ballpoint pen, making it the world's best-selling pen. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion, because: it is patent nonsense. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1945 calendar). ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article or section needs additional references or sources. ... Ladislao Laszlo Josef Biro (Bíró László József, September 29, 1899 - November 24, 1985) is considered the inventor of the modern ballpoint pen. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

BIC in USA

Ten years after the release of BIC pens in Europe, the same BIC pens were introduced to the USA. Americans were wary of BIC pens at first. There were many other pens on the market at the time and people were hesitant to switch over. BIC's marketing share increased with its televised advertising campaign, with the slogan "Writes first time, every time." BIC sold the pens for 29 cents each and, within a year, prices dipped down to a mere 10 cents. Bic is famous mainly for cheap reliable pens. One of its most successful pens is the crystal variety. A year is the time between two recurrences of an event related to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun. ... Look up centi- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary For the numerical prefix centi- see Wiktionary. ...

The recent Bic®

Image File history File links Download high resolution version (905x105, 210 KB) Licensing It is ineligible for copyright becuase it contains a trademarked logo: from Bic. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (905x105, 210 KB) Licensing It is ineligible for copyright becuase it contains a trademarked logo: from Bic. ...

Ownership

The Bich family owns about 40% of BIC's stock and controls more than 50% of its voting power.

Revenue

A disposable lighter, very similar to the ones produced by Société Bic.

• Stationery (pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, crayons, and correction products): 50%
• Lighters (disposable, utility, and special-edition): 25%
• Shavers (men's and women's): 18%

Stationery is a general name given to paper and office supplies such as envelopes, notepads, pens, pencils, erasers, paper clips, staples, etc. ... A metal naphtha lighter A lighter is a device used to create fire with the intent to ignite another substance such as a cigarette, smoking pipe, or charcoal in a grill. ... Occams Razor or Hanlons razor A razor is a an edge tool (primarily, used in shaving). ...

External links

• BIC World - Company website
• Yahoo! - Société BIC Company Profile