Rollins, Inc. is a North American

pest control Pest control is the regulation or management of a species defined as a pest (organism), pest; such as any animal, plant or fungus that impacts adversely on human activities or environment. The human response depends on the importance of the da ...

company serving residential and commercial clients. Operating globally through its wholly owned subsidiaries,

Orkin Orkin is an American pest control company that was founded in 1901 by Otto Orkin. Since 1964, the company has been owned by Rollins Inc. Orkin has held research collaborations with universities around the country and with organizations like t ...

, Inc., PCO Services (now Orkin Canada), HomeTeam Pest Defense, Western Pest Services, Industrial Fumigant Company, TruTech, Critter Control, Crane, Waltham, OPC Services, PermaTreat, Northwest Exterminating, McCall Service and Clark Pest Control, as well UK subsidiaries Integrated Pest Management Limited, Safeguard Pest Control, NBC Environment, Europest Environmental Services, Guardian Pest Control, Ames, Kestrel and Beaver Pest Control, with Australian subsidiaries Allpest, Scientific Pest Control, Murray Pest Control and Statewide Pest Control, and Singapore subsidiary Aardwolf Pestkare, the company provides pest control services and protection against termite damage, rodents and insects to over 2.8 million customers in the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and Asia from over 800 locations. The United States accounted for 92.7% of net sales. Net sales by activity: *insect control and residential deratisation (45%); *insect control and deratisation for companies (mainly agribusiness, catering, healthcare, hospitality, food distribution companies) (33.9%); *termite extermination (19.9%); *other (1.2%).

History

The company started as Rollins Broadcasting in 1948, founded by John W. Rollins and his brother, O. Wayne Rollins. The company, originally financed in large part by John Rollins' auto dealerships, began as Rollins Broadcasting when the brothers purchased a 1460 WRAD, an AM radio station based in the rural town of

Radford, Virginia Radford (formerly Lovely Mount, Central City, English Ferry and Ingle's Ferry) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. As of 2020, the population was 16,070 by the United States Census Bureau. For ...

. The company grew to include other radio stations, such as jazz station WBEE (AM 1570) in Harvey, Illinois, television stations such as

WPTZ WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermo ...

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh is a city in and the county seat of Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census. The population of the sur ...

, Orkin, Inc., Western Pest Services, The Industrial Fumigant Company, a trucking concern (later sold to

Penske Truck Leasing Penske Truck Leasing Co., L.P. is a joint venture of Penske Corporation, Penske Automotive Group, and Mitsui & Co. Headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania, the company was founded by Team Penske owner Roger Penske on December 1, 1969. It is Pens ...

), a

hazardous waste Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is Toxicity, toxic, Chemical reaction, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is Corrosion, corrosive, ...

disposal service, an oil services business, and a

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

company. In 1984 the company spun off its oil services business, RPC, Inc. () to shareholders. Gary Rollins, son of O. Wayne Rollins, has been the CEO since July 24, 2001.

References

External links

* American companies established in 1948 Chemical companies established in 1948 Business services companies established in 1948 Pest control companies of the United States Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Atlanta {{industry-company-stub