History

The product and the company date to May 3, 1913, when five entrepreneurs invested $100 apiece to set up the first commercial-scale liquid bleach factory in the United States, on the west side of San Francisco Bay. The firm was first called the Electro-Alkaline Company. In 1917, it developed a stronger version for household, rather than industrial, use, and sales took off.

The company went private in 1922, changing its name to Clorox. "Butch," an animated Clorox liquid bleach bottle, was used in advertising and became well known, even surviving the 1941 transition from rubber-stoppered bottles to ones with screw-off caps.

During World War I, when chlorine gas shortages forced many bleach manufacturers to reduce the concentration of sodium hypochlorite in their products, Clorox elected to sell fewer units of a full-strength product, establishing a reputation for quality.

In 1958, Clorox was bought by Procter & Gamble, a purchase challenged by the Federal Trade Commission, which feared it would stifle competition in the household products market. The FTC won, and in 1970 Clorox again was made independent.