Newell’s Sharpie cut costs by manufacturing in U.S., WSJ reports

Back in 2018, most of Newell Brands (NWL)’ Sharpies were made abroad, which is when Chris Peterson, who was CFO at the time, decided he wanted to prevent the company from becoming obsolete compared with factories in Asia, Natasha Khan of The Wall Street Journal reports. “I felt like we had an opportunity to dramatically improve our U.S. manufacturing,” now-CEO Peterson said. Newell shifted to making most of its Sharpies in the U.S., without reducing employee count or raising prices. Now, the company is further reaping benefits from this cheaper and quicker method as tariffs impact the industry.