Atlas Van Lines is a moving van company formed in 1948 by a group of 33 local moving firms and based in Evansville, Indiana. As an agent-owned company it is similar in form to a cooperative. Atlas provided a means to compete with other emerging alliances of moving van companies. The company changed ownership structure in the 1980s, when stock was offered to the public. After a hostile takeover attempt, in 1988 the company returned to ownership by its agents. It presently has about 800 agents worldwide (in over 140 countries), of which 75 own shares in Atlas World Group, which controls Atlas Van Lines and other related companies.