International Paper Co. (IP)

International Paper makes renewable fibre-based packaging, with manufacturing in North America, Latin America, Europe and North Africa. It is a New York corporation, incorporated in 1941 as successor to the New York corporation of the same name organised in 1898. It runs two divisions that form its two reporting segments, Packaging Solutions North America and Packaging Solutions EMEA. In the United States at the date of the filing it operated 15 packaging mills, 159 converting and packaging plants and 15 recycling plants, with production in Europe, North Africa and Latin America adding 14 containerboard mills, 159 converting and packaging plants and 20 recycling plants. The filing states that substantially all of its businesses have experienced, and are likely to continue to experience, cycles relating to industry capacity and general economic conditions.

The products

The company makes containerboard and corrugated packaging used to protect, ship and display goods, serving mainly industrial consumer goods and e-commerce markets. Its containerboard range covers linerboard, medium, whitetop and saturating kraft, the base materials for corrugated packaging. Those boards are converted into corrugated boxes, bulk bins, shipping containers and specialty packaging through a network of converting facilities at home and abroad. Customers sit in industries such as food and beverage, agriculture, industrial manufacturing, personal care, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods. Products are sold directly to end users and converters and also through agents, resellers and distributors.

The 80/20 system

The company runs what it calls the IP 80/20 performance system, which it describes as a disciplined, data-driven operating model built on simplification, segmentation, resourcing and growth. Simplification has meant focusing on the core packaging business, exiting non-core businesses and cutting complexity out of internal processes and organisational structures. Segmentation has meant concentrating on the right geographies within each region and prioritising particular customer segments and product lines. Resourcing has meant tailoring investment and capital allocation to the distinct needs of each business, investing in greenfield packaging facilities with two new plants announced in 2025, and putting people into the roles where they create value. Growth is framed around winning with customers, enhancing the investor base in both regions and reaching an advantaged cost position.

The year and the split

During 2025 the company completed the acquisition of DS Smith, pushed on with regional integration and applied the 80/20 system inside the new teams. It sold its Global Cellulose Fibers business to American Industrial Partners, a transaction completed in January 2026, and exited other non-core businesses and markets while streamlining its footprint. It also cut redundancies created by the acquisition out of its organisational structure, decentralised teams further, outsourced some functional areas and moved resources towards higher value work. In January 2026 it announced plans to separate into two independent publicly traded companies, one in North America and one in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and it describes the EMEA aim as becoming the leading provider of innovative, sustainable packaging in that region. Capital expenditure from 2021 through 2025 totalled approximately 5.4 billion dollars excluding mergers and acquisitions, and the company states that this spending goes to product quality, environmental performance, lower costs, reliability and capacity expansion.

Competition, patents and people

The packaging sector is large and fragmented and the areas the company sells into are very competitive, with its products facing similar products from other forest products companies and, in some cases, companies in other industries and substitutes for wood-fibre products. Many factors shape its competitive position, including price, cost, product quality and services. It relies on a combination of patent, copyright, trademark, design, trade secret and internet domain laws to protect its intellectual property at home and abroad, files patent applications for products it says improve its value to customers, and keeps a portfolio of registered and unregistered trademarks, licences and domain names, alongside trade secret protection for manufacturing processes, product specifications, formulae, analyses, market information and forecasts. At 31 December 2025 it had approximately 62,602 employees, nearly 30,421 of them in the United States, where 20,705 are hourly and unions represent approximately 11,498, of whom 8,622 are with the United Steelworkers. Five master agreements with that union and others cover various mills and converting facilities, with local agreements handling subjects the master agreements leave out and renewing automatically on the same terms if not renegotiated at expiry. Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, labour relations run through local laws, works councils, national unions and country-specific bargaining frameworks whose consultation and representation requirements differ from American practice.

From International Paper's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. The filing