United States Tobacco Co. existed before the American Tobacco Co. acquisition. UST was founded as the United States Tobacco Co. in 1911, Richmond, Va., after the
US Supreme Court dissolved the
American Tobacco Company trust as a monopoly 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, relocates from New York City to Greenwich, Connecticut in 1970, later 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, as well as a video branch Razzmatazz Entertainment, which was in operation from 1996 to 1998 mostly to release kids videos, and feature film distributor Cabin Fever Films, which was mainly used to distribute feature films for the theatrical market. In 1998, both video subsidiaries were folded into Hallmark Home Entertainment. In 2005, UST was among 53 entities that contributed the maximum of $250,000 to the second inauguration of President
George W. Bush. 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. ==References==