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Q |
Why
did Bill Rounds sell Rockport? Some have speculated
that he needed the money to make up for bad
investments and debts.
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When Ralph Rounds died on July 23, 1960,
the Rockport mill had already been closed
for about 3 years. That same year, 1960,
the Rockport timberlands were certified
as the Ralph Rounds Tree Farm. Bill Rounds
held onto the family property for 8 years
after his father's death. He ended up selling
Rockport because, according to Merlo, “he
didn’t want to fuss with it”.
Almost as an afterthought, Merlo added,
“Besides, I made him a good offer.”
Merlo actually brokered the Rockport deal
on behalf of Robert Pamplin, CEO of Georgia-Pacific
Corporation (GP). About 18 months earlier,
Pamplin had purchased Rounds and Kilpatrick
for $4.75 million. As the story goes, Pamplin
wanted Merlo even more than he wanted Rounds
and Kilpatrick. To paraphrase Victor Kiam’s
old slogan in the TV ads for Remington shavers,
Pamplin “liked Merlo so much that
he bought the company.” As part of
the Rounds Kilpatrick sale, Merlo went to
work on May 1, 1967 as a V.P. in charge
of GP’s timber, plywood, and lumber
operations in Samoa, CA. The sale of Rockport
Redwood Company was just the first of many
that Merlo would arrange in Mendocino County,
a playing field that he knew very well.
In Pamplin he clearly had a mentor for his
own ambitions. In 20 years as president
and later chairman of GP (1957-1976), Pamplin
directed a period of aggressive growth,
taking GP from annual sales of about $100+
million to $3 billion.
The Mendocino Beacon reported that the
agreement to sell Rockport Redwood Company
came on July 23, 1968:
| Ralph
Rounds reportedly will received $10
million in GP stock for the 33,059
acres at Rockport, north of Fort Bragg,
plus acreage of Rockport owned lands
near Philo. The Philo acreage is listed
as 3, 422 acres, the coast tract. (MB
2 Aug 1968, p. 1) |
Merlo did offer a good insight on how Bill
Rounds ended up with Rockport upon his father’s
death. Dwight loved the West Coast and Bill
loved the Midwest. Carl Nelsen, who was
the Rockport Redwood Company bookkeeper
at the time, added up Ralph Rounds’
assets. Because he knew that Dwight wanted
to live on the West Coast, he distributed
the assets nearly equally but tilted the
value slightly to the Midwest distribution.
Dwight had first choice to pick either the
West Coast assets or the Midwest assets.
Since he could see that the scales were
tipping a little more in the Midwest direction,
he chose it. Bill Rounds told Merlo, “Well,
you and I are going to be partners.”
 The
business association between Bill Rounds
and Harry Merlo persisted beyond the
sale of Rockport Redwood Company. When
Merlo became the CEO of Louisiana-Pacific
in 1973, Bill Rounds served on LP’s
first board of directors and continued
in that capacity until his retirement
in 1987.
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