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The RJR Headquarters building (back left) in Winston Salem, NC was built prior to the Empire State Building, which was designed by the same architect.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR), based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and founded by Richard Joshua Reynolds in 1874, is the second-largest tobacco firm in the global tobacco industry, and the second-largest U.S. firm (behind Altria Group). RJR is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Reynolds American Inc.

In 1987, a bidding war ensued between several financial firms to acquire RJR Nabisco. Finally, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co (commonly referred to as KKR) was responsible for the 1988 leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco. This was documented in several articles in The Wall Street Journal by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. These articles were later used as the basis of a bestselling book, Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco, and then into a made-for-TV film. As a result, in February 1989, RJR Nabisco paid executive F. Ross Johnson US$53,800,000 as part of a golden handshake clause, the largest such deal in history at the time.

In 1998 the company was part of the Master Settlement Agreement.

In October 2002, the European Union accused R.J. Reynolds of selling black market cigarettes to drug traffickers and mobsters from Italy, Russia, Colombia and the Balkans.

On July 30, 2004, R.J. Reynolds merged with the U.S. operations of British American Tobacco (operating under the name of Brown & Williamson). A new parent holding company, Reynolds American Inc., was established as part of the transaction.

They used to be the title sponsor of NHRA drag racing and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1972 to 2003. In 1987, RJR resurrected the mascot for their Camel brand of cigarette, Joe Camel. Joe Camel, a cartoon, anthropomorphic Camel, was claimed to be a ploy to entice and interest the underaged in smoking. RJ Reynolds maintained that Joe's "smooth character" was meant only to appeal to adult smokers.

This criticism was reinforced by a 1991 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association ^[1] showing that more children 5 and 6 years old could recognize Joe Camel than could recognize Mickey Mouse or Fred Flintstone, (the Fred Flintstone character was also once used to sell R.J. Reynolds cigarettes) and alleged that the Joe Camel ad campaign was targeting children, despite R.J. Reynolds' contention that the campaign had been researched only among adults and was directed only at the smokers of other brands. In response to this criticism, RJR instituted "Let's Clear the Air on Smoking," a campaign of full-page advertisements consisting entirely of large type text, which denied the charges and declared that smoking is "an adult custom".

R.J. Reynolds brands include Camel, Kool, Winston, Salem, Doral, Eclipse, Export A and Pall Mall. Brands still manufactured but no longer receiving significant marketing support include Barclay, Belair, Capri, Carlton, GPC, Lucky Strike, Weed, Misty, Monarch, More, Now, Tareyton, Vantage, and Viceroy. The company also manufactures certain private-label brands. Five of the company's brands are among the top ten best selling cigarette brands in the United States, and it is estimated that one in three cigarettes sold in the country were manufactured by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

The company's headquarters are located in the Reynolds Building in Winston-Salem. Built in 1929, the 20-story building was built by the same architects (Joshua Edwards and Chad Edwards) who later designed the Empire State Building in New York City.

R.J. Reynolds' largest plant, Tobaccoville, a 2 million square foot (190,000 m²) facility constructed in 1986, is located in the town of Tobaccoville, North Carolina near Winston-Salem.

The company's Whitaker Park plant, located in Winston-Salem, was built in 1961 and is about 1 million square feet (90,000 m²).

Macon manufacturing, located in Macon, Ga., resides in a 1.4 million square foot (130,000 m²) facility built in 1974.

The company also has tobacco-sheet manufacturing operations in Chester, Va., and Winston-Salem; leaf operations in Wilson, N.C.; tobacco-storage facilities in Blacksburg, S.C. and Richmond, Va.; and a significant research-and-development facility in Winston-Salem.

Between these facilities, R.J. Reynolds employs approximately 6,800 people.

R.J. Reynolds' subsidiary R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Foreign Sales Corporation is established in the British Virgin Islands to optimize its tax liability.

In 2005, R.J. Reynolds opened the Marshall McGearty Lounge in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago. The company claims it is the first cigarette lounge in the country, specializing in cigarettes "hand-crafted" (not hand-rolled) on the premises.

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