RJR Acquisition Corp history

Its $26.4 billion leveraged buyout in 1989 by LBO specialists Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. was, at the time, the biggest corporate takeover ever and the contentious brawl between the Wall Street titans seeking control of the company was chronicled in the best-selling book "Barbarians at the Gate."

By 1991 it had reduced its debt to about $17 billion from $25 billion at the time of the buyout.

The company's stock price has traded in a $10 range since 1993. "It's been dead money for six years," said an investment banker. "It hasn't been a big hit for shareholders."

Philip Morris tried the same microbrand technique with its failed Dave's cigarette brand in 1994.

By early 1995 KKR had sold all its remaining shares.

After preparing for another such fight, Icahn sold all of his 19.9 million shares in March 1997 for $730 million.

1998: A $516 billion settlement plan between RJR (and several rivals) and state attorneys general dies in the Senate in June.

On December 11, 2000, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc. acquired its former parent company, Nabisco Group Holdings Corp., in a transaction that netted RJR $1.6 billion in cash.

In 2001, in Indianapolis, B&W began testing Advance Lights, a cigarette with reduced levels of many of the principal toxins found in cigarette smoke.

On a combined 2003 basis, the company would have had annual revenues of approximately $8.4 billion, annual United States domestic cigarette volume of 119 billion units, and more than 30 percent of the cigarette sales in the United States.

On July 30, 2004, R.J. Reynolds merged with Brown & Williamson (the United States operations of British American Tobacco ). They jointly established a new parent holding company, Reynolds American Inc.

In May 2006, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company introduced Camel Snus, an innovative smoke-free, spitless tobacco product made of pasteurized tobacco contained in pouches.

November 28, 2007-RJR announces it will not advertise its brands in newspapers or consumer magazines next year.

Camel Snus was launched nationally in 2009.

On July 15, 2014, Reynolds American bought the Lorillard Tobacco Company for $27.4 billion.

In June 2015, R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company brands Winston, Salem and Kool were sold to Imperial Tobacco Group, and Reynolds American Inc. acquired Lorillard Inc., with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company becoming the manufacturer of Newport.