PPG Industries announced an agreement to acquire Glidden from AkzoNobel for $1.05 billion on December 14, 2012.

[1] Following the deal, PPG will be the second largest paint manufacturer in North America, behind Sherwin-Williams.

[4] It expanded greatly, opening a 17-acre varnish factory in 1908 which was claimed to be the largest in the world.

[3] Francis Glidden retired from the business at the age of 85, turning the company over to Adrian D. Joyce and his associates after a public sale.

[4] Glidden famously employed the chemist Percy Julian in the 1930s, who was one of the first African-Americans to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry.