About
Bridgestone's name is a literal translation of its founder's surname: Shojiro Ishibashi's family name means 'stone bridge', and when he founded the company in 1931 in Kurume, Japan, he chose the English version as the brand. Ishibashi — who made his fortune in traditional Japanese tabi footwear — saw the automobile coming and bet his company on tires. The bet made Bridgestone the world's largest tire and rubber company. The product line covers the full spectrum: passenger and light truck tires (including the premium Potenza and Turanza lines), truck and bus tires, agricultural, mining, and aircraft tires, plus the advanced run-flat technology it pioneered. Bridgestone's purchase of Firestone in 1988 gave it a strong US brand and manufacturing base, making it the rare Japanese company with deep American roots. With about 120,000 employees and annual revenue near ¥4.4 trillion (US$30 billion), Bridgestone is also pushing beyond rubber: its Webfleet telematics platform monitors tire pressure and fleet operations, and its 'solutions as a service' model — selling tire performance rather than just tires — is a strategy the industry is watching closely. For fleet buyers, Bridgestone offers the most complete tire-plus-data package anywhere.
Also known as: Bridgestone
