HOME DEPOT: BUILDING A BUSINESS

1979: First store opens on Memorial Drive. The company loses $930,000 on $7 million in sales.

1980: Sales double and the company records its first profit.

1981: Stock is offered to the public and store opens in South Florida in first expansion outside Atlanta.

1986: Passes $1 billion in sales and opens its first super-sized 140,000-square-foot store.

1994: Enters the Canadian market.

1995: Rolls out Home Depot Expo concept.

Jan. 1997: Opens its 500th store.

May 1997: CEO Bernard Marcus steps down; co-founder Arthur Blank takes over.

1998: Opens its first store outside North America in Chile and its first EXPO Design Center in San Diego.

Dec. 2000: Former GE executive Bob Nardelli is tapped as next CEO.

Feb. 2001: Blank steps down as head of Home Depot.

May 2001: Home Depot enters Mexico.

May 2001: Blank retires from board of directors.

October 2001: Home Depot sells its stores in Chile and Argentina.

Jan. 2002: Nardelli is elected chairman of the board.

May 2002: Marcus retires from board of directors.

2002: Stock price declines 53 percent, making it the worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

December 2005: Home Depot opens it 2,000th store

May 2006: Shareholders are riled when board members skip the annual meeting, and Nardelli doesn't give a speech or take questions.

Jan. 2007: Nardelli resigns with a $210 million exit package. He is succeeded by Vice Chairman Frank Blake.

June 2007: Company sells its wholesale supply unit to focus on core retail operations.

Aug. 2007: The company invests in 12 stores in China.

Sept. 2007: Landscape Supply, a stand-alone chain for hard-core gardeners, is shuttered.

Nov. 2007: Third-quarter earnings take a 27 percent plunge, largely due to woes in the housing market.

Dec. 2007: Company announces plans to lay off 950 employees by closing three call centers.

Jan. 2008: Gives up on two-year effort to acquire a financial services company to lend customers money for home improvements.

Feb. 1, 2008: Lays off 10 percent of its headquarters employees, cutting 500 jobs. A week later Landscape Supply stores are sold for $22 million.

Feb. 26, 2008: Reports its first year-over-year sales decline and a nearly 24 percent drop in fiscal year 2007 earnings, to $4.4 billion.

Source: Bloomberg News, staff research, Home Depot

By Sharon Gaus and Alice Wertheim