Dow Inc.

Is Dow the same company as Dow Chemical?
Dow Inc. is the publicly traded holding company. The Dow Chemical Company is its main operating subsidiary. The business traces continuously to the 1897 founding of Dow Chemical by Herbert Henry Dow.

Is Dow still part of DuPont?
No. Dow and DuPont merged in 2017 to form DowDuPont, then separated into three companies in 2019. Dow Inc. holds the materials science businesses. Corteva took agriculture, and DuPont took specialty products.

Who owns the Styrofoam brand now?
DuPont owns and manufactures Styrofoam brand XPS insulation following the 2019 DowDuPont separation. S.C. Johnson has owned the Saran brand since 1998.

Who is the CEO of Dow?
Karen S. Carter became CEO on July 1, 2026. She previously served as chief operating officer and president of the Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment. Former CEO Jim Fitterling became executive chair.

Why did Dow lose money in 2025?
Weak global demand, lower polymer prices, European energy costs, and industry overcapacity pushed Dow to a GAAP net loss of $2.4 billion on $40.0 billion of sales in 2025. The company launched a restructuring in 2026 targeting at least $2 billion in savings.

What does DOWSIL make?
DOWSIL is Dow's silicone brand, covering sealants, adhesives, lubricants, and silicone materials for electronics, construction, automotive, and personal care applications. It descends from the Dow Corning joint venture founded in 1943.

Herbert Henry Dow founded The Dow Chemical Company in 1897 in Midland, Michigan, built around a new process for extracting bromine from brine. The company expanded into bleach, agricultural chemicals, and magnesium. During World War I, Dow supplied magnesium for incendiary devices and became a major producer of synthetic materials.

The postwar decades brought diversification. Dow discovered Saran (polyvinylidene chloride) in 1933 and turned it into Saran Wrap, its first consumer product, in 1953. The company produced Styrofoam extruded polystyrene insulation from the 1940s, napalm during the Vietnam era, and a wide range of plastics and industrial chemicals. In 1943, Dow formed a joint venture with Corning called Dow Corning to commercialize silicones.

Dow acquired Union Carbide in 2001 for $11.6 billion, adding polyethylene and petrochemicals capacity. In 2009 it bought Rohm and Haas for $15 billion, gaining coatings and electronic materials businesses. The company ran into controversy during the 2008 financial crisis when it attempted to withdraw from the Rohm and Haas deal, before completing it under legal pressure.

In December 2015, Dow and DuPont announced a merger of equals. The combined DowDuPont formed in September 2017 with plans to split into three companies. Corteva, the agriculture business, separated in June 2019. Dow Inc., holding the materials science businesses, spun off on April 1, 2019, and began trading on the NYSE under the ticker DOW. DuPont kept the specialty products businesses, including the Styrofoam insulation brand and most of the former Dow water filtration and consumer-facing trademarks.

Jim Fitterling, a career Dow executive, led the new Dow Inc. as CEO from 2018 through June 2026. The post-split years proved difficult. Overcapacity in polyethylene, weak global demand, trade friction, and high European energy costs squeezed margins. Dow idled crackers in Europe, announced restructuring programs, and in 2026 launched a plan to cut about 4,500 jobs, roughly 13% of its workforce, targeting at least $2 billion in annual cost savings. On July 1, 2026, Chief Operating Officer Karen S. Carter, a Dow veteran of more than three decades, became CEO, with Fitterling moving to executive chair.

Dow operates sustainability programs under its Decarbonize and Grow and Transform the Waste strategies. It has committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2050, to converting plastic waste into 3 million metric tons per year of circular and renewable solutions by 2030, and to making its packaging products recyclable or reusable by 2035. The company publishes an annual INtersections sustainability report and reports through CDP.

The company also carries legacy environmental liabilities, including remediation obligations related to historic dioxin contamination near its Midland headquarters and Union Carbide-era sites.

Dow regularly appears on the Fortune 500 and was named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index in multiple years. The company has received American Chemistry Council safety and sustainability awards and recognition for its INNATE packaging technology collaborations.

Dow's history includes several major controversies. Its production of napalm and Agent Orange components during the Vietnam War drew lasting criticism, as did the 1984 Bhopal disaster at Union Carbide, which Dow acquired in 2001 and for which it continues to face litigation and activist pressure. The company has managed dioxin remediation disputes around Midland for decades.

In 2026, Dow's announcement of 4,500 job cuts drew scrutiny in communities around its plants. Regulators in the U.S. and EU continue to tighten rules on PFAS, plastics, and industrial emissions that affect Dow's operations.