ReynoldsAmerican.com - manufacturers of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products
Headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC Reynolds American Inc. (trading symbol: RAI) manufactures and sells tobacco products in the United States. Twenty five year old Richard Joshua Reynolds founded the company in the year 1875. RAI is the parent company of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company Inc. It is the second largest tobacco company after Altria Group Inc. (Phillip Morris Companies Inc. earlier). The company offers cigarettes and other tobacco products under the brand names CAMEL, KOOL, WINSTON, DORAL, SALEM AND NATURAL AMERICAN SPIRIT. The company also makes and distributed Cigars, Rolls, and Cigarette and Pipe Tobacco products under DUNHILL AND CAPTAIN BLACK. The other brands of the company include GRIZZLY, PALL MALL, and KODIAK AND CAPRI brands. RAI sells its products to distributors, wholesalers, retail chains, gas stations and public warehouses. Ms. Susan M. Ivey is the Chairman, CEO and President of the company.
History
1875 – Twenty Five year old Richard Joshua Reynolds starts a chewing-tobacco manufacturing company in Winston, NC. He saw potential in Winston as it was a production center for Fluecured Tobacco leaves and the town was near to a newly built railroad line.
1912 – R.J. Reynolds devises employee stock plan and pays dividend to its shareholders.
1913 – Reynolds Tobacco introduces Camel Cigarettes which contained blend of different types of tobacco, came to be known as the American Blend. Camel became the first nationally popular cigarette in the country. Also introduces 20-cigarette pack
1915 – Introduces 10-pack carton
1918 – Richard Joshua Reynolds, the founder of Reynolds Tobacco dies at the age of 68
1931 – Becomes the first company to use moisture proof packing for its cigarettes.
1954 – Reynolds Tobacco introduces Winston – the first filter cigarette to achieve a roaring success in the market.
1956 – Reynolds Tobacco introduces Salem, the first filter tipped menthol cigarette
1960’s – The company introduces Doral brand in 1969 which was not successful and was re-launched again in 1984. The company begins diversifying into foods and other non-tobacco products.
1970 – The corporation forms a new parent company called R.J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.
1985 – Acquires Nabisco Brands in September of the year. The company was subsequently renamed to RJR Nabisco, Inc. in 1986.
1989 – RJR Nabisco acquires Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
1999 – On June 15 the former parent company RJR Nabisco, Inc. is renamed to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holding, Inc.
2000 – R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc. spins out Targacept as a private independent company.
2002 – On Jan 16 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Inc. acquires Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company, Inc. which makes Natural American Spirit Cigarettes for $340 million in cash. On July 16 the same year it enters into a joint venture with Gallaher Group PLC to market American blend cigarette in France, Spain, The Canary Islands and Italy which was expanded into additional markets later on.
2003 – R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc. merges with British American Tobacco PLC resulting in the merger of Reynolds Tobacco Company and Brown & Williams Tobacco Corporation, the 2nd and 3rd largest companies in the United States.
2004 – On July 30 R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company and Lane Ltd. Is clubbed to make one parent company called Reynolds American, Inc. (RAI), the combined revenue of the three companies would be $8.4 billion.
2006 – On May 31 RAI acquires Conwood the 2nd largest U.S. smokeless tobacco company.
Brands
- R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
- Camel – Introduced in 1913, this became country’s first national brand. It comes in two flavors Classic and Turkish.
- Kool – Launched in 1933, the first menthol brand
- Pall Mall – This was introduced in 1899 as one of the world’s first premium cigarette brands. Pall Mall launched its first king size cigarette in 1939 and its 100’s pack in 1966. It was re-launched again as new filtered, a cigarette that burns slower, tastes smooth and lasts longer.
- Winston – Introduced into the market in the year 1954, they became the first nationally popular filtered cigarette. During late 1960’s and early 1970’s Winston was the best selling cigarette and it still remains among the top 10 selling cigarettes.
- Salem – Launched in 1956 as the first filtered menthol cigarette Salem was the top selling menthol brand and still remains one of the hottest selling menthol cigarettes.
- Doral – The cigarette which stands for value for the money was started in 1969 which quickly gained popularity due to its low price.
- Conwood Company
- Loose Leaf
- Kodiak moist tobacco
- Grizzly moist tobacco
- Chewing tobacco
- Snuff
- Twist
- Little Cigars
- Rolls
- Pipe Tobacco
- Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company
- American Spirit Brands – Yellow and White, offering mellow taste; blue, offering full bodied taste; Yellow, offering light mellow taste; red, offering full bodied taste; gold, offering light mellow taste; green, for menthol taste; Periques, offering rich robust taste; Celadon , for medium balanced taste; green and white, for menthol light mellow taste and Brown, offers non-filtered full bodied taste.
- Roll-Your-Own – It comes in four styles which include Blue Roll-Your-Own with 100% additive-free, premium, whole leaf, natural tobacco; Royal Blue Roll-Your-Own which comes in medium shag cut, best for quick and easy rolling; Maroon Roll-Your-Own, additive-free, 100% certified organic tobacco; Black Roll-Your-Own, aged in oak whiskey barrels.
How big are they?
The company ranks 280 in the 2006 list of Fortune 500 companies and is the second largest tobacco company in the world after Altria Group (Previously Phillip Morris). The company employs over 8,500 full time employees. The company had revenues of $8.25 billion, an increase of 28% from last years and a profit of billion dollars, an increase of 51% in the year 2006 from 2005 from all its subsidiary companies. The company has an asset base of $14.5 billion and a market value of $16 billion as of March 17, 2006.
About the Website
The website does not have much for everyday visitors except for the investors who can find out about the company’s financial performance and portfolio. The homepage has links to its subsidiary companies which provides more information to casual visitors like various brands of the company, history of the company, their values, smoker’s rights etc. Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company’s website http://www.nascigs.com/ is a unique website which allows only visitors of age above 18 and warnings about cigarette smoking on its homepage. There is a search bar for users to search the website regarding particular information they are looking for.
Website Rank
The website has a low traffic rank of 1,468,927 as it is not an online shopping website.
Address
- 401 N. Main St.
- Winston-Salem, NC 27101
