The Stark Industries logo from the Howard Stark era In 2010, Stark appointed Pepper Potts as the CEO of Stark Industries after realizing that he was dying from palladium poisoning, a position Stark allowed Potts to maintain after he engineered his own recovery. Under Stark's control, the company flourished financially for nearly two decades however, when Stark discovered that Stane was selling their weapons to terrorist groups around the world, such as the Ten Rings, he shut down their lucrative weapons division.
Founded in 1939 by Howard Stark, the elder Stark ran the company from its inception up until his death in 1991, after which Obadiah Stane was appointed interim CEO, with Tony Stark officially assuming the position shortly after at the age of twenty-one. Stark Industries is a multinational industrial company and the largest tech conglomerate in the world. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark International until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." ― Tony Stark "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up.