File:Old_and_new_Blackwater_logos.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Company type
- Private
- Industry
- Private security services contractor
- Founded
- December 26, 1996 ; 29 years ago ( December 26, 1996 ) , North Carolina , U.S.
- Founders
- Erik Prince , Al Clark
- Defunct
- June 2014 ; 12 years ago ( 2014-06 )
- Fate
- Merged with Triple Canopy
- Area served
- Worldwide
- Products
- Law enforcement training, logistics, close quarter training, and security services
- Services
- Security management, full-service risk management consulting
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Employees
- 21000
- Official website
- theacademi.org
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Academi
- inception
- 1997-01-01
- name
- ꠛ꠆ꠟꠦꠇꠅꠣꠐꠣꠞ (ꠀꠇꠣꠖꠦꠝꠤ)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Article
Blackwater was an American private military contractor founded on December 26, 1996, by former Navy SEAL officer Erik Prince. It was renamed Xe Services in 2009, and was again renamed to Academi in 2011, after it was acquired by a group of private investors. In 2014, Academi and Triple Canopy were consolidated into Constellis Group, under the Constellis Holdings umbrella alongside several other private security firms.
Blackwater began providing services to the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002, receiving a $5.4 million contract to provide security for the agency's station in Kabul, Afghanistan. Blackwater’s work in Iraq began in mid-2003.