Weyland-Yutani Corporation, often shortened to Weyland-Yutani and commonly referred to as Wey-Yu[1] or simply "The Company",[2][3] was a large British-Japanese[4] multinational conglomerate. It was founded in 2099 by the merger of Weyland Corp and Yutani Corporation.[5] Weyland-Yutani was primarily a technology supplier, manufacturing synthetics, starships and computers for a wide range of industrial and commercial clients, making them a household name.[6] The company also had numerous non-manufacturing interests; it possessed extensive assets in interplanetary shipping and transport, and operated human colonies outside the solar system through the Extrasolar Colonization Administration.[2] The company also held a seat on the review board of the Interstellar Commerce Commission,[7] which it owned, although the organization itself was ostensibly independent.[8] Weyland-Yutani's main offices were located in London, Tokyo, San Francisco, the Sea of Tranquillity on Luna and on Thedus.[9] Weyland-Yutani is consistently portrayed as exhibiting the worst aspects of corporate profiteering, willing to sacrifice decency and life in the endless pursuit of monetary profits.[3][10] As such, it is a modern example of the longstanding trope of the evil mega-corporation in science fiction. In various portrayals within the Alien universe, Weyland-Yutani has its hands in all aspects of space colonization and research. The company has consistently driven its employees and agents to obtain a living sample of the species they designate Xenomorph XX121, often without regard for the lives of anyone involved in said attempts, so that the creatures may be exploited as biological weapons or otherwise for financial gain.[2] According to Weyland-Yutani employee Karl Bishop Weyland, one of the company's primary goals behind capturing the Xenomorphs and creating weapons out of their biology is to ensure humanity remains the elite species in the universe, and not just because of profits.[10]