About the Company
Southern Company is an electric utility holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. It conducts its operations through its subsidiaries and caters to the requirement of more than 9 million customers in over 5 different states in America. Southern Company shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “SO”. Southern Company has more than 30,000 employees and its operations are segregated into the following divisions: gas distribution operations, wholesale gas services, gas pipeline investments, gas marketing services and others. Some of the most noteworthy subsidiaries of Southern Company are Southern Nuclear, Southern Natural Gas, Alabama Property Company, Southern Company Services, Southern Linc, AMS Corp., Southern Electric Generating Company, Atlanta Gas Light, Southern Telecom, Nicor Gas, Southern Wholesale Energy, Virginia Natural Gas and Chattanooga Gas.
SO was founded as a holding company in 1945 when Commonwealth and Southern Corporation was dissolved as per the provisions of the Public Utility Holding Company Act 1935. Gulf Power, Georgia Power, Atlanta Power, and Mississippi Power, four operating companies of Commonwealth and Southern, were considered as a one non-segregated system, and thus, remained under a single ownership. SO began conducting its operations four years later and shifted its headquarters from Delaware to Georgia. In 2001, the SEC approved SO to form its own subsidiary, Southern Power, to manage finances in relation to wholesale generating assets in the Southeast. Hence, it mainly targets wholesale customers through this subsidiary. A year later, one of its subsidiaries, Southern Company Gas received certification from the Georgia Public Service Commission. After completing almost 4 years, it was sold off and the existing customers shifted to Gas South, a newly incorporated affiliate of Cobb EMC.
In 2016, SO completed a merger with PowerSecure International, Inc. for approximately $425 million. In the same year, it purchased AGL Resources; the cash transaction involving the latter was worth $12 billion which included an equity value of an estimated $8 billion. After the acquisition, AGL Resources was renamed as Southern Company Gas. On January 30, 2020. In 2018, Forbes ranked SO 98th on its list of America’s Largest Public Companies. A year later, it ranked 4th on the Forbes America’s Best Employers 2019 list. In the same year, Forbes honoured the organisation by including it in the list of Best Employers for New Grads. In 2020, it was ranked 175th on Forbes’ Global 2000 list. Southern Company was also featured on the Best Employers for Veterans 2020 list. Moreover, in the same year, it occupied the 153rd position on the list of Fortune 500 companies.;
Organisation | Southern Company |
Industry | Utilities—Regulated Electric |
HeadQuarters | Atlanta, GA |