NOW Inc.

NOW Inc.

NOW Inc. formed in 2014 when National Oilwell Varco distributed its distribution business to shareholders, creating a standalone public company under CEO Robert Workman. The carve-out gave the Houston-based supplier a clean balance sheet and an immediate operational presence that traced back over 150 years through predecessor entities. Workman has led the company since the spin-off, navigating the cycles of the oilfield services sector from the 2015 downturn through the pandemic-era recovery. The firm runs two primary segments: the US operations under DistributionNOW and the international businesses grouped under the DNOW brand. It supplies energy sector customers across upstream, midstream, and downstream with maintenance, repair, and operating supplies — piping, flanges, pumps, and valves — alongside industrial end markets. Rather than manufacturing, NOW Inc. competes on inventory availability and supply chain speed across more than 300 locations in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific. The model depends on supplier relationships with thousands of equipment makers rather than proprietary technology. NOW Inc. employs approximately 2,400 people across its global footprint and generated $2.3 billion in revenue for the 2024 fiscal year. The company maintains its headquarters in Houston and operates through a network of branches in Canada, the UK, Norway, Australia, and the UAE. An adjacent digital platform, DigitalNOW, launched to provide e-commerce purchasing and inventory management to its industrial customers. In May 2024, NOW Inc. completed the acquisition of Whitco Supply, a Louisiana-based PVF distributor, for $60 million in cash (per the firm's SEC filings, 2024). The structural differentiator is its pure-play distribution focus within a sector dominated by vertically integrated manufacturers. By staying asset-light and supplier-agnostic, NOW Inc. can scale up or down with drilling activity faster than competitors that carry manufacturing overhead. The company has also used its distribution density to expand into adjacent industrial end markets, including refineries, chemical plants, and municipal water systems, a strategy that acts as a counterweight to oilfield cyclicality.