KB Home
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KB Home (NYSE: KBH) is a homebuilding company based in the United States, founded in 1957 as Kaufman & Broad. It was the first company to be traded on the NYSE as a home builder and is a Fortune 500 company. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California.
In fiscal 2005, the company delivered homes to 37,140 families in the United States and France and had revenue of over $9 billion. However, it has since been hit hard by the housing collapse and its deliveries and revenues have rapidly-shrunk to pre-2000 levels.
KB Home is a lending partner with and offers complete mortgage services through Countrywide Home Loans.
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[edit] History
In 1999, acquired Upland, California-based Lewis Homes. Has acquired numerous smaller builders in their 50-year history as the company expanded into new markets.
In 2001 KB Home was sued when homeowners in a subdivision in Arlington, Texas discovered that their homes were built on top of a practice bombing range from the 1940s and 50s which the military had cleared for development.[1]
In 2003 KB Home became the first big homebuilder to adopt the NAHB's National Housing Quality certification program nationwide. In November 2006, KB Home President, CEO and Chairman Bruce Karatz resigned after an internal accounting probe into his alleged Backdating of stock options grants. He was succeeded by Jeffrey T. Mezger.[2]
KB Home also announced the firing of its head of Human Resources, Gary A. Ray, and the resignation of its Chief Legal Officer, Richard B. Hirst. The company determined that Karatz and Ray had picked grant dates under the company's stock option plans (Backdating)
According to the Wall Street Journal, Karatz was one of the most highly paid executives in 2005, earning almost $156 million, primarily from options.[3] As of May 2007, 28 KB Home divisions had been awarded the NHQ Certified Builder seal by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). The company was also named "Most Admired Homebuilder" by Fortune Magazine.
[edit] Divisions, partnerships and subsidiaries
- Divisions
- West Coast—California;
- Southwest—Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico;
- Central—Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Texas;
- Southeast—Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina
- Countrywide KB Home Loans, provides mortgaging services
