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Farben owned or held participating interests in 400 German firms and
in about 500 firms in other countries. It also controlled some 40,000 valuable
patent rights. The prosecution denominated the firm, “a state within a
state.”
Particularly outstanding were Farben's achievements in
chemical research and in the practical utilization of its discoveries. Among
the many pharmaceutical products which Farben developed and sponsored may be
mentioned aspirin, atabrin, the salvarsans. Two of its trademarks, the
“Bayer-Cross” in the pharmaceutical field and “Agfa” in
photography, are well known throughout the world. In the industrial sphere
Farben was a pioneer in the development of the intricate processes by virtue of
which dyestuffs, methanol, the plastics, artificial fibres, and light metals
are commercially produced on a large scale. The firm played an especially
important role in the discovery and development of the processes for making
buna rubber, nitrogen from the air, and gasoline and lubricants from coal. It
is noteworthy that three Nobel prize winners have been Farben scientists, and
that the firm's products won nine grand prizes at the Paris Exposition in 1937.
An enterprise of the magnitude and diversified interests of Farben
necessarily required a comprehensive and intricate plan of corporate
management. We shall here merely sketch the broad outlines of these, leaving
details for further notice in connection with particular subjects and problems.
The stockholders of Farben numbered approximately a half
million. There was an annual meeting, usually attended by financial
representatives of groups of shareholders, at which reports were received and
considered, capital increases and amendments to the charter were approved, and
members of the Aufsichtsrat elected.
The Aufsichtsrat comprised
55 members at the time the merger was effected, but this number was reduced to
23 in 1938 and to 21 by 1940. This body was in the nature of a supervisory
board, somewhat comparable, functionally, to those members of a board of
directors of an American corporation who are not on the executive committee and
who do not actively participate in the management of the business. Under German
law the Aufsichtsrat elected and removed members of time Vorstand, called
special meetings of the stockholders, and had the right to examine and audit
the books and accounts of the firm.
The Vorstand, somewhat like
the executive committee of a board of directors, was charged with the actual
responsibility for the management of the corporation and represented it in
dealings with others. When the Farben merger took place in 1925-1920, its
Vorstand consisted of 82 members and most of its functions were delegated to a
working committee of 20 members. In 1938 the Vorstand was reduced to less than
30 menders and the working committee was abolished. |
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