Wayne Enterprises
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| Wayne Enterprises | |
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| Publication information | |
|---|---|
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| In story information | |
| Type of business | Conglomerate |
| Base(s) | Gotham City |
| Owner(s) | Thomas Wayne Bruce Wayne Derek Powers |
| Employee(s) | Lucius Fox |
Wayne Enterprises (formerly WayneCorp) is a fictional company in the DC Universe. Wayne Enterprises is owned by billionaire Bruce Wayne and run by his business manager Lucius Fox. It was founded by merchant ancestors of the Wayne family in the 17th century.
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[edit] Fictional company history
[edit] Beginnings and Wayne Corp
Based in Gotham City, Wayne Corp was founded in the seventeenth century as a merchant house, eventually becoming a large multinational conglomerate. The company opened new subsidiaries, such as Wayne Shipping, Wayne Chemicals and Wayne Aerospace, while shutting down others, such as Wayne Manufacturing.
[edit] Branches
[edit] Wayne Technologies
Wayne Technologies, also known as WayneTech, is the biggest division of Wayne Enterprises. It is involved in the retrieval and research of alien technology. Its main rival is LexCorp. The subsidiary is sometimes used by Batman as a means to acquire new technologies or to use the medical facilities.
Other subsidiaries of WayneTech include: Holt Holdings Inc., (the company formerly owned by Michael Holt (Mister Terrific), Wayne Biotech, Wayne Pharmaceuticals, and Wayne Healthcare, which runs Gotham City's healthcare system.
[edit] Wayne Biotech
Wayne Biotech is the company mostly responsible for the Gotham healthcare system. The company itself is a facility for researching and developing new medical procedures and systems. It also trains and teaches a huge number of people annually. Wayne Chemicals and Wayne Pharmaceuticals work closely with Wayne Biotech to develop medicines for different diseases.
The current research at Wayne Biotech is focused on finding the cure for cancer. Since the human genome has already been unlocked, Wayne Biotech is studying cloning to produce organs for future transplants. The company is involved in research into brain surgery methods, the fight against AIDS and HIV, and reconstructive plastic surgery. Batman uses Wayne Biotech as a research tool for finding medical information, patient histories and information on illnesses.
[edit] Wayne Foods
Wayne Foods is a little known subsidiary of WayneTech mostly based in Gotham City. It runs farms and cattle ranches in the Midwest United States, and imports beef from Argentina and other countries. Wayne Foods produces specialized products like ecological foods and natural lines with no additives and controlled growing. Batman uses Wayne Foods as a means to keep tabs on the food produce market.
[edit] Wayne Shipping
Wayne Shipping owns dozens of freighters and handles three and a half billion tons of freight each month and is used by Batman to gain an inside view on smuggling and drug trafficking.
[edit] Wayne Steel
Wayne Steel is one of the oldest steel mills and metal refineries in Gotham and supplies steel for shipbuilding. It also studies and replicates alien technology. This has also led to Batman getting priority on technology and alloys for him to study. Wayne Steel's alliance with the US Navy and the government has produced numerous contacts for Wayne Enterprises.
[edit] Wayne Shipbuilding
WayneYards is responsible for the building of a large number of naval warships, commercial, and private ships and is currently building a Nimitz class aircraft carrier in Gotham. WayneSteel and WayneYards facilities repair a large number of cruisers and destroyers and also has contacts within the upper pylons of the Navy and the global maritime business.
[edit] Wayne Aerospace
Wayne Aerospace builds luxurious and exclusive corporate and private jets and airliners. Its experimental aviation branch produces experimental and research planes built for the United States government and NASA. The military aviation branch designs and manufactures jet fighters and helicopters for the US military. The most notable models of these are the W-4 Wraith fighter and the Kestrel attack helicopter. Wayne Aerospace maintains competition with other aerospace corporations like Ferris Air and LexAir.
[edit] Wayne Chemicals
Wayne Chemicals controls Wayne Oil, Wayne Pharmaceuticals and Wayne Botanical. Wayne Chemicals also has a small percentage of ownership in Tyler Chemicals, based in New York City. Wayne Chemicals is primarily a research and development firm. Wayne Oil researches petrochemicals and alternative fuel sources. Wayne Chemicals is the first company to have created a power generator using algae. Wayne Pharmaceuticals is another one of Wayne Chemicals' research and development branches.
[edit] Wayne Industries
Wayne Industries is a research and development company used for industrial purposes. The company studies, researches and develops cleaner, mechanical fission and fusion power plants and also owns many factories and normal labor units, from manufacturing cars to making cloth and so on. Wayne Mining is also a part of Wayne Industries, along with the few power stations the company owns. Wayne Mining mostly produces gold and some precious stones in Africa.
[edit] Wayne Medical
Wayne Medical is Wayne Biotech’s sister company but both have different fields of study and work. Wayne Medical handles most of the healthcare system in Gotham and also studies cancer and AIDS with Wayne Biotech. Wayne Medical is focused more on treating illnesses than researching them and maintains and runs many hospitals in Gotham City and helps the Foundation with the orphanages.
[edit] Wayne Electronics
Wayne Electronics is a large consortium that manufactures portable radios, stereo and Hi-Fi systems, movie cameras, cameras and electronics, measuring devices, scanners, surveillance equipment, computers and other electronics devices. Its other branches of business include information technology, wired networks, wireless networks and space exploration systems and satellites. It also has contracts with the aerospace, nautical and military industries.
[edit] Wayne Entertainment
Wayne Entertainment owns many arenas and stadiums in Gotham and has leased out the Sommerset Stadium to the Metropolis Monarchs. Furthermore, Wayne Entertainment has working partnerships with several modeling agencies and multimedia houses and provides a large number of contacts and information. The Daily Planet newspaper, where Superman and his wife, Lois Lane, work, is operated by Wayne Entertainment.[1] Wayne Entertainment is in direct competition with WGBS (run by Galaxy Communications) and LexCom (run by LexCorp). Those companies, along with other television and movie companies provide the same services as Wayne Entertainment. Through Wayne Entertainment, Batman has contacts in the media and entertainment industries.
[edit] Wayne Foundation
The Wayne Foundation is the holding company for the Thomas Wayne Foundation and the Martha Wayne Foundation. The Wayne Foundation funds scientific research and helps people with research by providing facilities and training.
The foundation has its own building called the Wayne Foundation Building which includes a penthouse where Batman lived for a period of time. It also has a secret elevator which leads to a matching Batcave in a secret sub-basement under the building.
Through the Wayne Foundation and the organizations underneath, Batman has a very large network of connections in the world of charities. He finds out about the newest trends and newest arts, but at the same time he has connections to the streets through the soup kitchens and social services groups.
[edit] Thomas Wayne Foundation
The Thomas Wayne Foundation is a foundation for medicine and medical help. This foundation gives annual awards for medical breakthroughs and lifelong commitment, similar to the Nobel Foundation. The Thomas Wayne Foundation is also responsible for funding the Thomas Wayne Memorial Clinic in Park Row, Gotham's infamous Crime Alley. The foundation funds and runs dozens of other free clinics all over the city and in other trouble cities like the Blüdhaven. Bruce Wayne's surrogate mother, Dr. Leslie Thompkins, ran the Memorial Clinic in Crime Alley and governed the other clinics until she left Gotham.
[edit] Martha Wayne Foundation
The Martha Wayne Foundation is a patron and supporter of arts, families, education and tolerance. The foundation supports and helps to run a number of orphanages and free schools, and provides teachers for those who have learning difficulties. Artists can apply for grants from the foundation to help support them in furthering the arts. The foundation sponsors companies like Family Finders Inc. in Gotham. Family Finders is an organization directed at finding lost people and uniting families. The foundation sponsors and runs dozens of soup kitchens within the city.
[edit] Other media
[edit] DC animated universe
In Batman: the Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Wayne Enterprises was run both by Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox. Attempts of taking over the company was made from rival companies, including Roland Daggett of Dagget Industries. On GothCorp, after its CEO Ferris Boyle was arrested, Wayne Enterprises aid the continuing run of the company without any of its employee losing their employment. It once partnered with LexCorp for the development of cybernetic drones, the Waynelexes, before Bruce terminated his company's contract with LexCorp after its CEO Lex Luthor violated its agreements by arming the robots with military technology without Wayne's approval and his scandal with the Joker's rampage on Metropolis. Wayne Enterprises also hired Arnold Wesker after his release from Arkham Asylum.
In an episode of Teen Titans, when Robin defected to Slade, the remaining four Titans fight Robin on top of Wayne Enterprises, destroying the letters "A" and "Y" in the process.
In Batman Beyond, the elder Bruce Wayne allows his company to be taken over by shrewd industrialist Derek Powers of Powers Technology. The two companies were eventually merged, becoming Wayne-Powers Enterprises. After Derek Powers' criminal identity as Blight was revealed, his son Paxton took over as CEO. Paxton was soon arrested after attempting to murder Wayne. Following the company's multiple change in hands, Wayne reclaimed control of the company under its original name: Wayne Enterprises.
[edit] Batman Begins
In the 2005 film Batman Begins, the boardsman Mr. William Earle takes over the companies after the death of Thomas and Martha Wayne. In one scene, he assures Bruce that the company will be in good hands until he is old enough to claim Wayne Corp. However, after Bruce's disappearance for many years, Earle has Wayne declared legally dead.
When Wayne finally returns to Gotham, he does not show obvious interest in reclaiming the family business. Instead, he chooses to work in the Applied Sciences division, using it and his coworker Lucius Fox to provide him with high-tech equipment. He takes gear originally made for the U.S. military, including body armor and a prototype armored vehicle, and uses them to create the equipment needs for his war on crime. Finally, at the film's end, Wayne Enterprises becomes a public corporation and Wayne manages to become a majority shareholder, at which point he installs Fox as the active CEO. According to Forbes 25 largest fictional companies it had an estimated sales of $31.3 billion.
[edit] References
"Batman Begins (2005)." IMDb. 27 Aug 2007. IMDb. 27 Aug 2007 <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/>.
"Batman Begins." Batman Begins. 2006. Warner Brothers Studios. 27 Aug 2007 <http://www2.warnerbros.com/batmanbegins/>.
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