Background
Walter was the son of Ebe and Mabel Walter.
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James W. Walter
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Walter eventually sold the company in 1986 for $2 billion to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). The book Building a Business: The Jim Walter Story tells his story. The western section of what was known as Columbus Drive (Tampa) was renamed Jim Walter Boulevard in 2003.
Jim Walter homes were "shell" homes, meaning the company would complete the outside so that the house was water tight, then allow the customer to finish the inside with their own labor.
The company would also sell most of the inside materials, including sheetrock, insulation, doors and carpet to the customer and include them in the purchase. The result was very affordable mortgage payments, usually for 20 years.
The only requirement from the company was that the customer must own the land on which the house was constructed. During the 1970s and 1980s, when mortgage rates went as high as 15%, Jim Walter offered 10% financing with no money down.
In 1961 he bought Celotex using just stock in The Wall Street Journal wrote, "Jonah has just swallowed the whale."
In 1968, Walter bought United States Pipe and Foundry.
Later, Walter acquired Fry Roofing, Georgia Marble, and various other building material companies. In 1988, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts acquired Jim Walter Corporation (later Walter Industries) for $3.3 billion in early 1988 but faced issues with the buyout almost immediately.
Most notably, a subsidiary of Jim Walter Corporation (Celotex) faced a large asbestos lawsuit and incurred liabilities that the courts ruled would need to be satisfied by the parent company.
In 1989, the holding company that KKR used for the Jim Walter buyout filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Upon separation of Financing, Walter Industries, which in 2008 derived most if its revenues from its core natural resources and energy businesses, rebranded itself Walter Energy, reflecting its focus on its these core businesses.
