UST Inc.

UST Inc.^[3] was a holding company,^[4] the biggest producer of snuff and chewing tobacco,^[5] whose subsidiaries included U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company and International Wine & Spirits Ltd., which in turn is a holding company of Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine Estates, a vintner of premium wines. On January 6, 2009, UST Inc. was purchased by Altria.

UST Inc.

Industry	Tobacco products
Founded	1986
Defunct	2009
Successor	Altria
Headquarters	Stamford, Connecticut, USA
Key people	Murray S. Kessler, Executive Chairman, CEO, President, & COO
Products	Smokeless tobacco, wine
Revenue	$1.48 billion USD (2007)^[1]
Number of employees	4,610 (2007)^[2]

History

United States Tobacco Co. existed before the American Tobacco Co. acquisition. UST was founded as the United States Tobacco Co. in 1911, Richmond, Va.,^[6][7] after the US Supreme Court dissolved the American Tobacco Company trust as a monopoly^[8] and in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890. Weyman-Bruton Company incorporates in 1911, acquires the United States Tobacco Company in 1921 and becomes the United States Tobacco Company in 1922,^[9][10] relocates from New York City^{[11][12][13][14]} to Greenwich,^[15] Connecticut in 1970, later^[16] creating the holding company in 1986. The company is incorporated in Delaware, and in the fall of 2006 announced it would move its headquarters from Greenwich, Connecticut to Stamford, Connecticut.

It operated a video company Cabin Fever Entertainment, which was in existence for ten years from 1988 to 1998,^[17] as well as a video branch Razzmatazz Entertainment, which was in operation from 1996 to 1998 mostly to release kids videos,^[18] and feature film distributor Cabin Fever Films, which was mainly used to distribute feature films for the theatrical market.^[19] In 1998, both video subsidiaries were folded into Hallmark Home Entertainment.^[20]

In 2005, UST was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President George W. Bush.^[21][22][23]

UST reported having an average of 5,111 employees in 2005. That year, UST had a $534 million profit on sales of $1.85 billion.

On November 2, 2006, UST promoted president and chief operating officer Murray S. Kessler to chief executive officer effective January 1, 2007. Vincent Gierer Jr., who had been CEO since 1993, remained chairman of the board of directors.

UST manufactures smokeless tobacco in Nashville, Tennessee; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; and Franklin Park, Illinois. It also owns vineyards in Washington state and California.

UST held 62.4 percent of the smokeless tobacco market as of the third quarter of 2006, according to an Oct. 26, 2006 report by Morningstar. UST's primary competitors include the American Snuff Company subsidiary of Reynolds American, and Swedish Match.

Effective January 6, 2009, Altria acquired all outstanding shares of UST Inc. (UST), shareholders of UST are entitled to receive $69.50 in cash without interest and less any applicable withholding tax, for each share of common stock held at the effective time of the merger.^[24]

References

1. "UST : Summary for ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treas - Yahoo Finance". yahoo.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
2. "UST Profile - ProShares Ultra 7-10 Year Treas Stock - Yahoo Finance". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
3. "Articles about United States Tobacco Co - latimes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
4. "United States Smokeless Tobacco Company - SourceWatch". www.sourcewatch.org. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
5. Beck, Joan (19 May 1996). "TOBACCO COMPANIES ARE LOUSY CORPORATE CITIZENS". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
6. "United States Tobacco Journal". BMT Publications. 13 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018 – via Google Books.
7. http://morfauction.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/auction_83.pdf^{[bare URL PDF]}
8. Borio, Gene (13 October 2018). "Tobacco History". archive.tobacco.org. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
9. "UST Inc. -- Company History". www.company-histories.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
10. "1956 Ad United States Tobacco Co King Sano Cigarettes - ORIGINAL ADVERTISING TM6". Period Paper. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
11. ""United States Tobacco Co." Letterhead Invoices Copenhagen & More 4 Invoices - eBay". eBay. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
12. Miller, Stephen (19 October 2010). "U.S. Tobacco's Chief Made Dipping Hip". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
13. Kostygina, Ganna; Ling, Pamela M. (2016). "Tobacco industry use of flavourings to promote smokeless tobacco products". Tobacco Control. 25 (Suppl 2): ii40–ii49. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053212. PMC 5433525. PMID 27856998.
14. "1942 Ad Model Pipe Smoking United States Tobacco WWII Navy Sailor Wartime LF4". Period Paper. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
15. "U.S. Tobacco boosts price on chewing tobacco". upi.com. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
16. "1.87.168 - Can, Tobacco (9345) - Artifacts from our Collection - Waseca County History Center". www.historical.waseca.mn.us. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
17. "...newsline..." (PDF). Billboard. 1988-08-13. p. 108. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
18. Applefield Olsen, Catherine (1996-08-17). "Home Video" (PDF). Billboard. p. 66. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
19. Sandler, Adam (1993-11-05). "Feature fever hits vid's Cabin". Variety. Retrieved 2023-08-04.
20. Goldstein, Seth (1998-03-21). "Handleman Loses Handle On Video; Hallmark Gets A Case Of Cabin Fever" (PDF). Billboard. p. 91. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
21. Drinkard, Jim (2005-01-17). "Donors get good seats, great access this week". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
22. "Financing the inauguration". USA Today. 2005-01-16. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
23. "Some question inaugural's multi-million price tag". USA Today. 2005-01-14. Retrieved 2008-05-25.
24. "Wayback Machine has not archived that URL". Retrieved 2023-04-12.^{[dead link]}