Saeder-Krupp Industries
Saeder-Krupp Industries is a Tasnican AAA corporation best known for its interests in heavy industry, magical goods, and messing with the Kuat Consortium. Oh, and it's owned be a freaking DRAGON.
The Buyout
Saeder Strategic Industries and Krupp Manufacturing merged during the Great War, making Saeder-Krupp Industries. The largest corporation in the known Web at the time, the immensely powerful industrial conglomerate played a key role in the Grand Army's war machine. After the war the corporation began to stagnate, as it had difficulty retooling its vast base to the demands of more peacetime economy.
Enter Lofwyr. No one knows exactly why the Great Blue Wyrm appeared one day and bought 63 percent of the company with a chunk of his vast horde; perhaps it was just something new to do after twelve centuries. He caused quite a stir among his fellow AAA CEOs.
Lofwyr turned out to be a genius. He restructured the company, diversified its holdings, and opened a magical goods division. S-K has improved its earnings every quarter since Lofwyr's takeover, a record virtually unmatched by any other corporation in the Web.
Business Operations
On paper, Saeder-Krupp Industries doesn't really do much except own a bunch of other corporations and subsidies. Unlike Kuat, which plasters its iconic infinity logo almost everywhere, S-K prefers to work through shell companies and subsidies. The majority of people directly employed by S-K are accountants who try to figure out exactly how much everything the corp owns is worth (and what to buy next.) S-K also hosts its management training program here, and prides itself on producing the excellent general managers who can run almost any industry.
S-K's largest concern is heavy industry. This includes construction, infrastructure, power generation, industrial chemicals, as well as a broad array of manufacturing. Many of these industries are needed by other corps to function; S-K is the Republic's largest producer of machine tools. The company competes with Forge Mechanicals in the realm of industrial automatons, which were originally invented by Seader Strategic Industries. The company is also heavily in to resource extraction, with extensive mining and timber harvesting operations.
Magical goods and services are a new business introduced under Lofwyr. This is a sharp contrast to their interest in heavy industry, as the magical almost by its very nature resists assembly line production; most foci, telesma, wands, etc. need to be specific to a particular magical tradition, or even a particular individual. Still, S-K has a very good distribution network and a superlative online catalog for what remains essentially a highly decentralized cottage industry. Lofwyr himself is a powerful magic user and enchanter, and in his time as CEO has produced a handful of extremely powerful items himself. The company also has several clothing lines with enchantments built in, from the traditional robes to a more modern tuxedo which gives new meaning to "power suit". Through many shells, and so secret no one knows it, the S-K owns Wizzer! Wizzer! makes a bunch of "magical" crap eagerly gobbled up by wannabee mages.
During the Great War, Saeder-Krupp ran key shipyards for the Kriegsnavee, and it is still a large producer of water craft, including cruise ships, cargo ships, and, of course, warships. Spruance Shipbuilding is the leading shipbuilder for the Esper Union, the Kriegsnavee, and is in the running as Tasnica seeks to restore some of its naval might. That Kuat successfully put in a bid for the Coalition Allied Navy really stings.
Of course, Saeder-Krupp has a variety of armaments contracts. Small arms subsidiary Mossberg produces a range of weapons; the Headhunter-22 combat shotgun is widely considered the best weapon in its class. During the Great War, the company was responsible for supplying almost all of the GA's artillery, and they still have the biggest factories around for needle artillery. Kawasichmidt Rotorcraft is a leading producer of military (and civilian) helicopters, but it is nowhere near claiming Aerospace Esper's dominance in the market. S-K's entry into the mecha market, under the aegis of R&M Limited, met with mixed success. Although the designs were widely praised, the market turned out to be smaller then anticipated; nations that could afford mecha tended to prefer to develop their home-grown designs.
The company's attempts to break into aerospace have been repeatedly foiled; however, the Reed Colony on the Mana V moon is owned lock, stock, and barrel by S-K.
Messing with other AAAs
S-K really has it in for Kuat. Part of this that Kuat is the largest corp in the Web, a position coveted by S-K. However, Lofwyr just seems to like 'playing' against Damien Gavalian. Despite the massive sums of money involved, and despite the deaths and collateral property damage caused by their respective shadow operatives, there is a sense that, between the two of them, it's a bit of a "gentleman's game".
Lofwyr is, of course, not above messing with the other corporations, should a potentially lucrative opportunity arise.
S-K's security guards (and black ops teams) are geared to military specifications, and though they rarely deploy in very large units, for Halberg's REF the company was able to piece together a couple of regiments. S-K has a lot more magic users available for its operations then the other AAAs.
