Dow manufactures plastics, chemicals, and agricultural products. With a presence in about 160 countries, it employs about 54,000 people worldwide.

Dow has been called the "chemical companies' chemical company" as its sales are to other industries rather than directly to end-use consumers. Dow is a member of the American Chemistry Council. The company tagline is "Seek Together".

Dow was founded in May 18^th, 1897 by chemist Herbert Henry Dow, who invented a new method of extracting the bromine that was trapped underground in brine at Midland, Michigan. Dow originally sold only bleach and potassium bromide, achieving a bleach output of 72 tons a day in 1902.

Early in the company's history, a group of British manufacturers tried to drive Dow out of the bleach business by cutting prices. Dow survived by also cutting its prices and, although losing about $90,000 in income, began to diversify its product line.

In 1905, German bromide producers began dumping bromides at low cost in the U.S. in an effort to prevent Dow from expanding its sales of bromides in Europe. Instead of competing directly for market share with the German producers, Dow bought the cheap German-made bromides and shipped them back to Europe. This undercut his German competitors.

Even in its early history, Dow set a tradition of rapidly diversifying its product line. Within twenty years, Dow had become a major producer of agricultural chemicals, elemental chlorine, phenol and other dyestuffs, and magnesium metal.

From 1940 to 1941, Dow built its first plant in Freeport, Texas to produce magnesium extracted from seawater rather than underground brine. The Freeport plant is Dow's largest site – and the largest integrated chemical manufacturing site in the country. The site grew quickly – with power, chlorine, caustic soda and ethylene also soon in production.

On December 11, 2015, Dow announced that it would merge with DuPont, in an all-stock deal. The combined company, which was known as DowDuPont, had an estimated value of $130 billion, was equally held by the shareholders of both companies, and maintained their respective headquarters in Michigan and Delaware.

DuPont CEO Ed Breen (left) with Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris after announcing their companies' merger into DowDuPont.

Within two years of the merger's closure, DowDuPont was set to split into three separate public companies, focusing on the agriculture, chemical, and specialty product industries. Shareholders of each company held 50% of the combined company.

For the fiscal year 2017, Dow Chemicals reported earnings of US2.5 billion, with an annual revenue of US$62.5 billion, an increase of 29.8% over the previous fiscal cycle. Dow Chemicals shares traded at over $67 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$121.1 billion in September 2018.

According to en.wikipedia