Kaiser Steel, a company founded by Henry Kaiser in 1941 to churn out steel for WWII warships, staggered into bankruptcy in 1987. The once-mighty manufacturer’s only products had been lawsuits, debts and bitterness.

They emerged from the ashes because of barter.

The new Kaiser doesn’t make steel and employs a bare-bones staff of about two dozen. But by bartering its land for stakes in new businesses, Kaiser is now enjoying a new life!

They’re involved in industries as varied as a California Speedway racetrack—Kaiser traded their land for $50 million of stock in Penske Motorsports, which owns the 90,000-seat auto racetrack on the site of the former Kaiser steel mill in Fontana.

Well-water, once used to cool steel, is being leased for millions a year. And they’ve converted an iron ore mine into a massive dump that will bring in millions more annually.

There’s always ways (profitable ways) to recover and ideas to do so are found in the BarterNews Fast Start Barter Program, do yourself a favor and secure a copy as soon as possible:
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This entry was posted on Friday, April 4th, 2008 at 5:15 am and is filed under From the Desk of Bob Meyer. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.