RJR Nabisco, Inc., was an American conglomerate formed in 1985 by the merger of Nabisco Brands and R.J. Reynolds Industries. RJR Nabisco was purchased in 1988 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. in the largest leveraged buyout (LBO) in history, adjusted for inflation.
In 1999 due to concerns about tobacco lawsuit liabilities, the tobacco business was spun off into a separate company, and RJR Nabisco was renamed Nabisco Group Holdings.
The RJR Nabisco LBO was, at the time, widely considered to be the pre-emininent example of corporate and executive greed. Bryan Burrough and John Helyar published Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, a successful book about the events which was later turned into a television movie for HBO.
The LBO
F. Ross Johnson was the President and CEO of RJR Nabisco at the time of the LBO and Henry Kravis was a general partner at KKR. The LBO was $25 billion, the battle for control took place between October and November 1988.
An article in Forbes at the time sheds some light on LBOs, particularly this one and is available online: http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/1988/1128/192.html
The movie, Barbarians at the Gate
James Garner stars as F. Ross Johnson, Johnathan Pryce stars as Henry Kravis. The DVD ISBN is: 0-7831-1862-7 and is entitled Barbarians at the Gate.
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