Bausch & Lomb: A Rochester Success Story

In 1853 German immigrant Jacob Bausch opened a small store in Rochester, New York, to sell European optical imports. Henry Lomb soon became a partner by lending Bausch $60. (Both founders pictured at left).

Bausch & Lomb's first major breakthrough came with Bausch's invention of Vulcanite (a hard rubber) eyeglass frames. The company fitted the frames with European lenses and by 1880 had a New York City sales office. Bausch & Lomb later began making microscopes, binoculars, and telescopes.

The company incorporated in 1908 as Bausch & Lomb Optical Co. In 1912 Jacob's son, William Bausch, became one of the few to make optical-quality glass in the US. During WWI, Bausch & Lomb supplied the military with lenses for binoculars, searchlights, rifle scopes, and telescopes.

The Army Air Corps commissioned the company in 1929 to create lenses to reduce sun glare for pilots. Bausch & Lomb responded with Ray-Ban sunglasses; they were made available to the public in 1936 and went on to become a company mainstay. Bausch & Lomb went public in 1938.
The company won an Oscar in the 1950s for its Cinemascope lens; it won government contracts for lenses used in satellite and missile systems in the 1960s. Bausch & Lomb also bought such firms as Ferson Optics (1968) and Reese Optical (1969). It began concentrating on contact lenses after the FDA approved its soft lenses in 1971.

In 1981 Daniel Gill, who had helped build the soft contact lens business, became CEO. He sold the company's prescription eyeglass services and industrial instruments units and diversified into medical products and research.

Earnings soared in the 1990s with foreign expansion and acquisitions, including Steri-Oss (dental implants); the Curel and Soft Sense skin care lines from S.C. Johnson & Son; Award, a Scottish manufacturer of disposable contacts (1996); and Arnette Optic Illusions sport sunglasses (1996).

However, Gill's insistence on double-digit growth contributed to a dubious ethical climate in which some executives used questionable tactics to put more sales on the books. This led to an SEC probe (closed in 1997 with no fines or penalties assessed) and a shareholder lawsuit (settled in 1997 for $42 million). That year, the company also paid $1.7 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging Bausch & Lomb was marketing one type of contact lens under several different product names with varying prices. Gill resigned under fire in 1995 and was replaced by outside director William Waltrip; he turned the reins over to William Carpenter in 1997.

Noncore divisions were sold (oral care and dental implant businesses in 1996; skin care line to Kao subsidiary Andrew Jergens in 1998) in a $100 million restructuring program, and 1,900 jobs were cut. The company entered the cataract and refractive surgery market, buying Chiron's vision unit in 1998 and ophthalmic diagnostic technology company Orbtek in 1999.

To focus on eye care, in 1999 the company sold its sunglasses unit to Luxottica, Amplifon S.p.A., and Charles River Laboratories to an affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, now Credit Suisse First Boston (USA). Bausch & Lomb then consolidated its manufacturing operations and cut its workforce.

Facing off with rivals Johnson & Johnson and Novartis' CIBA Vision unit over its new PureVision extended-wear lenses, the company withdrew disputed product ads after an FDA warning in 1999. In 2000 the company made a failed bid for tinted contact lensmaker Wesley Jessen VisionCare (which was later bought by and merged into CIBA Vision). The company's successful purchases that year included Groupe Chauvin, a maker of ophthalmic pharmaceuticals. In 2001 Bausch & Lomb bought the ophthalmic business of Pharmos Corporation.

Ronald Zarrella became chairman and CEO of Bausch & Lomb in 2001, after seven years with General Motors.

Learn more about the company here.