[Excerpt] On March 2, 1982, the National Steel conglomerate announced that it would make no further investments in its Weirton Steel division because a higher rate of profit could be made elsewhere. In the same press release the conglomerate suggested that the 11,000 employees of Weirton Steel buy the mill themselves. Unlike the steel mills that closed in Youngstown from 1977-1980, the Weirton mill was relatively modern and was making a profit (1% on 1981 sales of $1 billion). Continued operation of the facility made sense.