Rough Ride

When Floyd B. Odium's Atlas Corp. bought control of Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. from Financier Victor Emanuel in 1947, Odium expected a rough ride. Like other investors in aviation, he knew that the aircraft industry was in the midst of a postwar shakedown. But the ride was far rougher than Odium had expected.

Consolidated was buffeted by labor troubles, had money-losing contracts to deliver Convair-240s, its two-motored commercial airliners. Though Odium expected some loss on the contracts, which had been signed before he took over, he soon found that he had underestimated such losses by . $13 million. All in all, Consolidated piled up losses of $35.7 million in 1947 and $10.3 million last year.

In laying out millions for Consolidated, Odium soon ruefully realized that "I could have picked up the shares for a lot less if I had waited." But he was still confident that Consolidated's 6-36 bomber would pull him into smoother air. To get the bugs out of the 6-36 and get it into production, he brought in ex-T.W.A. President La Motte T. Cohu as boss.

Rolling. Last week, Odium reported that production of the B-36 was finally rolling, and that Consolidated had made $1.5 million in the first half of 1949. For the year, Odium expects Consolidated to net from $3.5 million to $4.5 million. The Air Force, which had had to justify its choice in a series of congressional hearings (TIME, June 6 et seq.) had picked the B-36 as its No. 1 long-range bomber, and it had doubled its original order. Most of the company's $232.4 million military aircraft backlog is for the B-36 (current price: $4,700,000 apiece); military orders for the B-36 will keep Consolidated busy until the end of 1950.

Such recoveries are not new to Atlas Corp. or to slim, smart Floyd Bostwick Odium. Confident and ice-cool, Odium has ridden through many a ruckus chiefly by saying nothing and letting his critics talk themselves out. The son of a Midwestern Methodist minister, Odium went to Wall Street in 1917, bought & sold so shrewdly that he was boss of an investment company with assets of $14 million by the time he was 37. During the depression he snapped up bargains, now has holdings in some 30 companies through his Atlas Corp. He earned the name "Fifty Percent Odium" because, his friends said, "he buys everything for 50-c- on the dollar."

Lolling. Odium, who lives on a ranch at Indio, Calif., spends long hours in his swimming pool to ease the pain of rheumatoid arthritis. A long telephone extension permits him to conduct business right from the pool. From there, Odium this year has been reshuffling Atlas' holdings to tighten up control and to trim expenses. Last week, as Atlas announced plans to combine two of its biggest properties, Barnsdall Oil and Ogden Corp., into the Barnsdall Oil Co., Odium reported that the asset value of Atlas shares was again on the increase. During the first half of this year, asset value dropped from $27.18 a share to $26.27, mostly because Atlas was selling off department-store and liquor shares. But, having bought into mining properties, Atlas' asset value was up again last week to $28.10, well above its selling price of $22.63 on the big board.

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