Home > International Directory of Company Histories > Jostens, Inc. - Introduction

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Introduction

5501 American Blvd. West
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55437
U.S.A.
Telephone: (952) 830-3300
Fax: (952) 830-3293
Web site: http://www.jostens.com

Private Subsidiary
Incorporated: 1906 as Jostens Manufacturing Company
Employees: 6,300
Sales: $807.2 million (2004)
NAIC: 339911 Jewelry (Including Precious Metal) Manufacturing; 511130 Book Publishers

Jostens, Inc. is best known as a manufacturer of high-quality class rings for high school and college students. For more than four decades, the company also has produced specially commissioned rings for contestants in the World Series, the Super Bowl, the NBA Championship, and the NHL Stanley Cup. Despite such high-profile coups and new ventures, the school products segment provided Jostens the lion's share of revenues. A promising educational software venture, for example, ended with disappointment and contributed to the interruption of a three-decade-long streak of earnings and revenue increases. Taken private in 2000, the century old company found itself being traded three times in the span of four years.

1. Introduction
2. From Small-Town Business to Multimillion-Dollar Corporation: Late 1800s–1960s
3. Rocky Start to Leadership Change: 1970s
4. Changing Demographics: 1980s
5. Tarnished Hopes: Early 1990s
6. A Second Century of Business; A New Millennium: 1997–99
7. Taken Private: 2000–05
8. Principal Competitors
9. Further Reading
10. Copyright Page
11. About Page