KBR

KBR is a private military, engineering and construction company based in Houston. It was formed in 1998, when Halliburton subsumed Dresser Industries and amalgamated Dresser subsidiary The M. W. Kellogg Co with its own subsidiary Brown & Root. KBR has worked in countries like Cuba, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Currently, its American workforce in Iraq numbers 14,000, and it is also said to have the biggest U.S. government contract there – beating out all other Iraq-based companies. In 2008, KBR declared that it was buying Alabama’s BE&K in a deal said to be worth $550 million. In 2011 KBR earned $540 million. And today it employs more than 27,000 people in over 70 countries across Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Over the years, the firm has, however, been involved in its share of controversies – from allegations of sexual assault lodged by female employees, to paying off Nigerian officials for government contracts.