Vulcan Inc.

This article is about the Paul Allen company. For other companies, see Vulcan (disambiguation).
Vulcan Inc.
Formation 1986 (1986)[1]
Founders
Type Private
Purpose Philanthropy, Education, Entertainment, Technology, Investments, Real Estate, Spaceflight
Headquarters Seattle, Washington, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Owner Paul Allen
Key people
 Paul Allen, founder, chairman, CEO
Jody Allen, co-founder
Barbara Bennett, President and COO
Website Vulcan.com

Vulcan Inc. is a company founded in 1986 by investor and philanthropist Paul Allen. The company oversees various business and charitable projects including real estate holdings, investments in companies, including the Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Sounders franchises, First & Goal Inc., the Seattle Cinerama theatre, EMP Museum, the Science Fiction Museum & Hall of Fame, the Allen Institute for Brain Science, the Allen Institute for Cell Science, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence and The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. Vulcan Inc. is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. The name is based on the Roman God of Fire, and not the species from the fictional universe Star Trek.[2]

History

Vulcan Inc. Headquarters

In 1986, Vulcan Northwest was formed to manage the business affairs, investments as well as a wide range of corporate and philanthropic operations on behalf of Paul Allen. Initially the company had a Pacific Northwest focus with headquarters in Bellevue, Washington.[3] In 2001, the company changed its name to Vulcan Inc. to reflect the company’s burgeoning global interests. The company’s headquarters have since moved to Seattle’s International District.

Investments

Vulcan Real Estate

Vulcan's Real Estate division offers development and portfolio management services from site selection and urban planning to build-to-suit construction, leasing and asset repositioning. Vulcan has developed 6.6 million square feet of new residential, office, retail and biotechnology research space and has a total development capacity of 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m2).[4]

Vulcan Real Estate is known for the redevelopment of the South Lake Union neighborhood immediately north of downtown Seattle and along the south shore of Lake Union. Several innovative companies in technology, life sciences, global health and business, are based in Vulcan developed properties.[5] More than $5.7 billion has been invested in the neighborhood since 2002 for development projects and public infrastructure improvements.

Vulcan advocated for the Seattle Streetcar line known as South Lake Union Streetcar, which runs from Seattle's Westlake Center to the south end of Lake Union. The Streetcar is a public and private partnership created through a Local Improvement District (LID) supported by businesses and residents along the line; The LID provided 50% of the funding while the remainder came from Federal and State sources with no city money used for its development costs.[6] The streetcar officially started operation on December 12, 2007. This development has been criticized as a city-supported real estate investment for Vulcan Inc.,[7] and concerns over the loss of low-income housing have been expressed.

In 2012, The Wall Street Journal called Allen's South Lake Union investment "unexpectedly lucrative" and one that led to his firm selling a 1,800,000 square feet (170,000 m2) office complex to Amazon.com for US$1.16 billion, one of the most expensive office deals ever in Seattle.[8] "It's exceeded my expectations," Mr. Allen said of the South Lake Union development.

In September 2014, Vulcan made a commitment to invest $200 million at Yesler Terrace where it would purchase three land parcels from the Seattle Housing Authority as part of an ambitious redevelopment plan for the 30-acre low-income housing site located southeast of downtown Seattle.[9]

Vulcan Capital

Formed in 2003, Vulcan Capital is the multibillion-dollar investment arm of Vulcan and is headquartered in Seattle with an additional office in Palo Alto.[10] Vulcan Capital invests in both private and public companies with a focus on making investments of $10 million to $100 million or more in companies mirroring the philanthropic approach of Paul Allen and Vulcan Inc. 4INFO, Alibaba Group, Charter Communications, DreamWorks, Magic Leap, Redfin and Tri Alpha Energy, Inc. are just some of the companies Vulcan Capital has invested in.

Vulcan Sports and Entertainment

Vulcan Sports and Entertainment (VSE) is responsible for all financial and business operations of Allen's sports-related properties including the Portland Trail Blazers, the Seattle Seahawks, the Seattle Sounders and the Moda Center. In the fall of 2012, Peter McLoughlin was named CEO of Vulcan Sports and Entertainment after Tod Leiweke left the post to run the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The Green Sports Alliance was conceived and founded by Vulcan Inc. and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Inaugural members and partners of the Alliance include the Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Sounders FC. Green Sports Alliance Members have made a commitment to improve their environmental performance; reducing waste, conserving energy and water, and eliminating toxic chemicals, among many other ongoing initiatives and accomplishments.[11]

Vulcan Aerospace

Launched in 2015, Vulcan Aerospace was created to help achieve Paul Allen’s desire to make commercial space travel more convenient and less expensive.[12] Vulcan Aerospace oversees the development of Stratolaunch Systems project, an air launch system capable of transporting payloads to low Earth orbit using a large carrier aircraft.[13] Initial test flights are projected to take place as early as 2016.[14] In September 2016, Vulcan Aerospace President Chuck Beames left his role and was replaced by an interim executive director: "Jean Floyd, the CEO of Vulcan’s Stratolaunch Systems."[15]

Research

Allen Brain Atlas

Both the Allen Institute for Brain Science and the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence were incubated at Vulcan Inc. Started at Vulcan Inc. in 2001, the Allen Brain Atlas project sought to understand the connections between genes and brain functioning. From the project’s research, Paul Allen created the Allen Institute for Brain Science in 2003 with a $100 million donation.

Project Halo came next. The project ran from 2002 to 2013, with the goal of creating a "digital Aristotle" that can correctly answer queries about scientific information, using artificial intelligence. The project led to a number of spinoff technologies, including the wiki software bundle SMW+, the Semantic Inferencing on Large Knowledge (SILK) project[16] and the Automated User-Centered Reasoning and Acquisition System (AURA).[17] From Project Halo’s results, the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence was created.[18]

Museums

Media and entertainment

Global Citizenship and Philanthropy

Great Elephant Census: The Great Elephant Census is designed to provide accurate and up-to-date data about the number and distribution of African elephants by using standardized aerial surveys of thousands of square miles. Dozens of researchers flying in small planes will capture comprehensive observational data of elephants and elephant carcasses. In many countries, surveys have not been flown in as many as 10 years, and without this data, it is challenging to assess the current state of elephant populations. Additionally, the existing data isn't well organized. The resulting database will provide valuable information to governments, scientists and NGOs so they can make smart decisions on how to manage elephant populations.[22]

Technology ventures

Vulcan, Inc. has also directly led some technology projects, including the following:

Wireless spectrum

Vulcan Spectrum, a branch of Vulcan, Inc., participated in the United States 2008 wireless spectrum auction, paying $69 million for "A Block" spectrum in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bremerton area, and $43.6 million for "A Block" spectrum in Portland-Salem.[23]

Vulcan FlipStart

In 2003, Vulcan began developing the Vulcan FlipStart, a subnotebook with a 5.6-inch screen. The company began to manufacture and sell the FlipStart in March 2007, and ceased production in May 2008.[24]

Controversy

In April 2015, United Launch Alliance (ULA) named their new launch vehicle Vulcan, and Vulcan Aerospace's then President, Chuck Beames, immediately "informed ULA of [Vulcan's] trademark rights."[25]

References

  1. ↑ "About - Vulcan". vulcan.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  2. ↑ "The Vulcan Story - Vulcan". vulcan.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  3. ↑ "Business - Paul Allen To Move Headquarters Of Vulcan Northwest Downtown - Seattle Times Newspaper". nwsource.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  4. ↑ ifthen.com. "About Us - Vulcan Real Estate". vulcan.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  5. ↑ Nick Timiraos. "A Look at Six U.S. Cities Pioneering New Economic Zones". WSJ.
  6. ↑ "Amazon plan adds more streetcar trips". The Seattle Times.
  7. ↑ "Venture Capital: Airplanes ... to antibodies". seattlepi.com.
  8. ↑ "Amazon to pay Vulcan $1.16B for headquarters campus in South Lake Union - Puget Sound Business Journal". Puget Sound Business Journal. 5 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "Vulcan to buy three blocks in Yesler Terrace". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  10. ↑ "Paul Allen's Vulcan Capital expanding to Silicon Valley". geekwire.com. 1 April 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  11. ↑ "ABOUT -". greensportsalliance.org.
  12. ↑ "Paul Allen Launches 'Vulcan Aerospace' to Boost Private Space Travel". space.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  13. ↑ Johnsson, Julie (13 April 2015). "Paul Allen Wants Path to Space to Start on World's Biggest Plane". Retrieved 23 September 2016 – via www.bloomberg.com.
  14. ↑ "Vulcan Aerospace". stratolaunch.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  15. ↑ "Internal email: Paul Allen's top space exec Chuck Beames leaving Vulcan Aerospace". geekwire.com. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  16. ↑ "The SILK Project: Semantic Inferencing on Large Knowledge". semwebcentral.org.
  17. ↑ "Automated User-Centered Reasoning and Acquisition System". Artificial Intelligence Center. SRI International. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
  18. ↑ Brandom, Russell (24 October 2013). "Paul Allen and the Machines: teaching the next generation of artificial intelligence". theverge.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
  19. ↑ "If the New Cinerama Can't Save Movie Theaters, Nothing Can". The Stranger.
  20. ↑ "The Hospital Club". thehospitalclub.com.
  21. ↑ "Vulcan Productions". vulcanproductions.com.
  22. ↑ "Great Elephant Census". Great Elephant Census.
  23. ↑ "Verizon Gets the "C" Block - dailywireless.org". dailywireless.org.
  24. ↑ Is FlipStart closing up shop?, Joshua Topolsky, Engadget, May 4, 2008
  25. ↑ "United Launch Alliance Boldly Names Its Next Rocket: Vulcan!". NBC. 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2015-04-13. Vulcan is a trademark of Vulcan Inc., and we have informed ULA of our trademark rights. Paul Allen and Vulcan were early leaders within space exploration with the launch of SpaceShipOne more than a decade ago. We are flattered by ULA's tribute to our legacy by naming their new rocket 'Vulcan.'
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