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| owner = [[R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company|R.J. Reynolds]]
| num_employees =
| industry = {{ubl|[[Food processing]]|[[tobacco industry|tobacco]]}}
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'''R. J. Reynolds Nabisco, Inc.''', [[Trade name|doing business as]] '''RJR Nabisco''', was an American [[Conglomerate (company)|conglomerate]], selling [[Tobacco products|tobacco]] and [[food products]], headquartered in the [[Calyon Building]]<!--1301 Avenue of the Americas--> in [[Midtown Manhattan, New York City]].<ref>"[https://web.archive.org/web/19990202223718/http://www.rjrnabisco.com/annual97/info.htm Investor Information 1997 Annual Report]." R. J. Reynolds Nabisco. February 2, 1999. Retrieved on December 2, 1999. "Corporate Offices: R. J. Reynolds Nabisco, Inc. 1301 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019"</ref> R. J. Reynolds Nabisco stopped operating as a single entity in 1999
== History ==
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=== Headquarters move ===
In August 1986, the RJR Nabisco board announced that [[F. Ross Johnson]] would replace J. Tylee Wilson as head of the company effective January 1, 1987. Soon after
=== The leveraged buyout ===
The RJR Nabisco leveraged buyout was, at the time, widely considered to be the preeminent example of corporate and executive [[greed (emotion)|greed]]. [[Bryan Burrough]] and [[John Helyar]] published ''[[Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco]]'', a successful book about the events which
Ross Johnson was the President and [[CEO]] of RJR Nabisco at the time of the leveraged buyout and [[Henry Kravis]] was the managing partner at [[Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co]]. The [[leveraged buyout]] was in the amount of $25 billion, and the battle for control took place between October and November 1988.
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KKR quickly introduced a tender offer to obtain RJR Nabisco for $90 per share—a price that enabled it to proceed without the approval of RJR Nabisco's management. RJR's management team, working with Shearson Lehman Hutton and Salomon Brothers, submitted a bid of $112, a figure they felt certain would enable it to outflank any response by Kravis. KKR's final bid of $109, while a lower dollar figure, was ultimately accepted by the board of directors.
It was accepted because KKR's offer was guaranteed whereas management's lacked a "reset", meaning that the final share price might have been lower than their professed $112 per share. Additionally, many in RJR's board of directors had grown concerned at recent disclosures of Johnson's unprecedented golden parachute deal. ''[[Time
KKR's offer was welcomed by the board, and, to some observers, it appeared that their elevation of the reset issue as a deal-breaker in KKR's favor was little more than an excuse to reject Johnson's higher payout of $112 per share.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1989/04/24/71880/| title=How Ross Johnson Blew the Buyout| author=Bill Saporito| publisher=[[CNN Money]]| date=April 24, 1989| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140416205956/http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1989/04/24/71880/| archive-date=April 16, 2014}}</ref> Johnson received compensation worth more than $60 million from the buyout, then left in February 1989. In March 1989, [[Louis V. Gerstner]] of [[American Express]] became the new head of RJR Nabisco.<ref name=Bucolic/>
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* Nabisco's UK operations (including [[The Smith's Snackfood Company|Smith's]] and [[Walkers (snack foods)|Walkers]]), Belin of France, and Saiwa of Italy were sold to [[Groupe Danone|BSN]].<ref>{{Cite news | title = 5 RJR Units Sold for $2.5 Billion - NYTimes.com | work = The New York Times | date = 7 June 1989 | access-date = 2015-02-09 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/07/business/5-rjr-units-sold-for-2.5-billion.html | last1 = Greenhouse | first1 = Steven }}</ref> Smith's and Walkers were swiftly resold to [[PepsiCo]].<ref>{{Cite news | title = Pepsico, to Aid Europe Sales, Buys 2 British Snack Units - NYTimes.com | work = The New York Times | date = 4 July 1989 | access-date = 2015-02-09 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/04/business/pepsico-to-aid-europe-sales-buys-2-british-snack-units.html | last1 = McGill | first1 = Douglas C. }}</ref>
* [[Chun King]] was sold to [[Yeo Hiap Seng]].<ref>[http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-06-22/business/8902110543_1_chun-king-rjr-nabisco-chow-mein "RJR Sending Chun King To Orient"]. [[Chicago Tribune]], June 22, 1989.</ref>
* Associated Biscuits International (consisting of 38% of India's Britannia and 40% of Pakistan's [[Peek Freans|English Biscuit Manufacturers]]) was sold to [[Britannia Industries]].<ref>{{Cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=July 7, 1989 |title=P.M. BRIEFING : Nabisco Sells India, Pakistan Units |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-07-fi-3554-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |issn=0458-3035 |access-date=September 2, 2023}}</ref>
* [[Fresh Del Monte Produce]] was sold to [[Polly Peck]].<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0458-3035 | agency = Associated Press | title = British Conglomerate to Buy Part of Del Monte From RJR | work = Los Angeles Times | access-date = 2015-02-09 | date = 1989-09-08 | url = https://articles.latimes.com/1989-09-08/business/fi-1943_1_del-monte }}</ref>
* [[Del Monte Foods]] was sold to [[Merrill Lynch]], [[Court Square Capital Partners|Citicorp Venture Capital]], and [[Kikkoman]]. Del Monte's Asia operations (outside the Philippines) were separately sold to Kikkoman.<ref>{{Cite news | issn = 0458-3035 | last = La Ganga | first = Maria L. | title = RJR Sells Del Monte Operations for $1.4 Billion : Deal Puts Company Close to Lenders' February, 1990, Debt-Reduction Goal | work = Los Angeles Times | access-date = 2015-02-09 | date = 1989-09-26 | url = https://articles.latimes.com/1989-09-26/business/fi-270_1_del-monte }}</ref>
* The company's 20% stake in [[ESPN Inc.]] was sold to [[Hearst Communications]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fabrikant|first=Geraldine|date=1990-11-09|title=Hearst to Buy 20% ESPN Stake From RJR|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/11/09/business/hearst-to-buy-20-espn-stake-from-rjr.html|access-date=2021-10-22|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Staff|title=HEARST BUYS 20% OF ESPN|url=https://buffalonews.com/news/hearst-buys-20-of-espn/article_8863254d-4fa5-5029-b120-16ef6ff13cad.html|access-date=2021-10-22|website=The Buffalo News|date=November 9, 1990 |language=en}}</ref>
Another major consequence of the buyout was that according to [[United States Department of Labor]], in its report "American Workplace", over 2,000 workers subsequently lost their jobs, which 72% eventually replaced, but earning less than half of their previous incomes, suggesting that it took most of those who lost their jobs an average of 5.6 months to find new employment.<ref>{{Cite book|title=U.S. Department of Labor, Office of the American Workplace, Volumes 2-3, Issues 1-5|publisher=United States Department of Labor|year=1994}}</ref>
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