Alcoa Corporation

What does Alcoa own?

Alcoa owns bauxite mines, alumina refineries, and aluminum smelters across roughly 16 countries, organized through its Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals system. Its operations are concentrated in Australia, Brazil, Canada, the United States, Norway, Iceland, and Spain. In June 2026 it agreed to buy South32's aluminum assets, pending approvals.

Is Alcoa publicly traded?

Yes. Alcoa Corporation trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker AA and has a secondary Australian listing under AAI. The stock is widely held by institutional investors.

Who founded Alcoa?

Charles Martin Hall, who discovered the electrolytic aluminum process in 1886, and metallurgist Alfred E. Hunt founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Company in 1888 with Mellon family backing. It became the Aluminum Company of America in 1907.

Where is Alcoa headquartered?

Alcoa Corporation is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, the same city where the original company was founded in 1888.

How many brands does Alcoa own?

One master brand. All products sell under the Alcoa name, with product families such as EcoLum and EcoDura for low-carbon and recycled aluminum. The Alcoa Wheels brand belongs to Howmet Aerospace following the 2016 corporate split.

Who owns Alcoa?

Public shareholders own Alcoa Corporation. Institutional investors hold the large majority of shares, and no single owner controls the company. South32 is expected to hold about 6 percent if its asset sale to Alcoa closes.

Did Alcoa split into two companies?

Yes. On November 1, 2016, the old Alcoa Inc separated into Alcoa Corporation, holding the upstream mining, refining, and smelting business, and Arconic, holding downstream products. Arconic later split further and its aerospace and industrial business is now Howmet Aerospace.

In 1886 Charles Martin Hall, a 22-year-old Oberlin College graduate, discovered a practical electrolytic process for producing aluminum. At the time aluminum cost more than silver because no commercial reduction method existed. With backing from metallurgist Alfred E. Hunt and investors that included the Mellon family, Hall founded the Pittsburgh Reduction Company in 1888. It poured its first aluminum ingot that fall.

The company renamed itself the Aluminum Company of America in 1907 and held a near-total position in U.S. aluminum for decades. The federal government pursued it as a monopoly, and a landmark 1945 decision by Judge Learned Hand found Alcoa had unlawfully maintained its position. Wartime plant sales then created competitors Reynolds Metals and Kaiser Aluminum.

Alcoa spent the late twentieth century as the default name in aluminum. It acquired Reynolds Metals in 2000 for about $4.6 billion, moved its center of gravity toward low-cost smelting regions, and expanded downstream into aerospace fasteners, auto sheet, and packaging. The 2008 financial crisis hit hard. Aluminum prices collapsed, and the company spent years closing high-cost capacity.

The defining modern event was the November 1, 2016 separation. Under CEO Klaus Kleinfeld, Alcoa Inc split into two companies: Arconic took the value-added downstream businesses, and a new Alcoa Corporation took the upstream mining, refining, and smelting assets. The Alcoa Wheels truck wheel business went with the downstream side, which is why it belongs to Howmet Aerospace today rather than to Alcoa.

Since 2024 the company has consolidated its upstream position. It completed the acquisition of Alumina Limited in August 2024, gaining 100 percent ownership of the AWAC joint venture they had shared for decades. In 2025 it sold its 25.1 percent stake in the Ma'aden aluminum joint venture in Saudi Arabia at a gain and restarted capacity at the Alumar smelter in Brazil, the San Ciprián smelter in Spain, and the Lista smelter in Norway. On June 30, 2026, Alcoa announced a definitive agreement to acquire South32's aluminum value chain assets, including 86 percent of Worsley Alumina, the Hillside smelter in South Africa, and stakes in Brazilian operations, for $4.1 billion upfront plus a contingent value right of up to $750 million. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027.

William Oplinger has served as president and chief executive officer since September 2023.

Aluminum is energy intensive, so decarbonization is Alcoa's central sustainability question. The company reports that roughly three quarters of its smelting portfolio runs on renewable power, mainly hydro in Canada, Norway, Iceland, and Brazil. Its EcoLum product line markets metal with a lower carbon footprint, and the Sustana family bundles low-carbon and recycled-content products.

Alcoa is a founding partner in ELYSIS, a joint venture with Rio Tinto backed by Apple and the Canadian government, developing inert-anode smelting technology that would eliminate direct greenhouse gas emissions from the aluminum process. The technology entered industrial demonstration at the Arvida smelter in Quebec.

The company reports to CDP and publishes an annual sustainability report. Its bauxite residue and mine rehabilitation practices in Western Australia remain its most contested environmental issues.

In 2014 Alcoa agreed to pay $384 million to settle U.S. Department of Justice and SEC charges related to bribes paid through a consultant to officials in Bahrain to secure alumina supply contracts with Aluminum Bahrain. The settlement resolved charges against an Alcoa-controlled alumina venture without a guilty plea to FCPA charges by the parent.

In Western Australia, Alcoa's bauxite mining in the jarrah forests of the Darling Range has drawn sustained criticism over forest clearing, water supply risk, and rehabilitation quality. Regulators have moved the company's mine plans through heightened environmental review, and operations continued under tightened conditions through 2025 and 2026.

The San Ciprián smelter in Spain has been a running dispute. Alcoa curtailed the plant during high energy prices, agreed with unions and the Spanish government on a restart tied to energy arrangements, and began phased restarting in 2025. Litigation and negotiation over the site's long-term viability continue.