Fortune Brands was a

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...

founded in 1969 as American Brands, renamed in 1997 and split apart in 2011. The corporate headquarters was in

Deerfield, Illinois Deerfield is a village in Lake County, Illinois, Lake and Cook County, Illinois, Cook counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. A northern Chicago metropolitan area, suburb of Chicago, Deerfield is located on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore, ...

, in the United States. The company had diversified product lines. It announced on December 8, 2010, that it would focus on its liquor business, and spin off or sell other parts of the company including home furnishings, hardware and golf products.Fortune Brands Announces Intent to Separate Company's Three Businesses
, ''The Wall Street Journal'', December 8, 2010. The company sold its

Titleist Titleist (pronounced "title-ist") is an American brand of golf equipment produced by the Acushnet Company, headquartered in Fairhaven, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1932 by Philip E. Young, it focuses on golf balls, such as commo ...

and

FootJoy The Acushnet Company is an American company focused on the golf market. The company operates a series of brands that manufacture golf equipment, clothing and accessories. The principal brands operated by Acushnet are Titleist, best known for b ...

product lines to

Fila Fila (; ) is a South Korean-owned athleisure brand headquartered in Seoul. The company was originally founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Italy. Fila Korea acquired the brand in 2007 and launched its initial p ...

. On October 3, 2011, it split the remainder of its business into two publicly traded companies:

Fortune Brands Home & Security Fortune Brands Innovations, Inc. (or "Fortune Brands") is an American manufacturer of home and security products, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois. Its portfolio of businesses and brands includes Moen and the House of Rohl; outdoor livin ...

and Beam Inc. On January 13, 2014,

Suntory (commonly referred to as simply Suntory) is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and ...

(headquartered in

Osaka, Japan is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third-most populous city in Japan, following the special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a populatio ...

) announced it would buy Beam Inc. for about $13.6 billion. The acquisition was completed on April 30, 2014, for about $16 billion and Beam became a subsidiary of Suntory named Beam Suntory,

Suntory Global Spirits Suntory Global Spirits Inc., formerly known as Beam Suntory, Inc., is an American beverage company that is a subsidiary of Suntory Holdings, a Japanese multinational beverage conglomerate. The company produces alcoholic beverages. It is the th ...

since 2024 .

History

The

American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter, Goodwin & Company, and Kinney Brothers. The company was one of the or ...

was founded in 1890. In the late 1960s, with health concerns seen as posing an increasing threat to the tobacco business, management decided to diversify into other fields and changed the corporate name to American Brands, Inc.

Brown & Williamson Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corporation was a U.S. tobacco company and a subsidiary of multinational British American Tobacco that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancin ...

acquired the tobacco division in 1994.

Former divisions

Tobacco

was the original division of American Brands. American Tobacco was sold to

British American Tobacco British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, E ...

in 1994.

Insurance

American Brands acquired Franklin Life Insurance in 1979. It sold the company to

American General Corebridge Financial, Inc. is an American financial services company. It provides annuities, life insurance, retirement plans, wealth management, and other financial services through its four core businesses—individual retirement, life insura ...

in 1994.

ACCO

In 1987 American Brands acquired ACCO, a holding company which owned several office supply subsidiaries. Stapler manufacturer Swingline, Inc., which American Brands had acquired in 1970, was combined with ACCO. In 2005, the company spun off ACCO to shareholders, and immediately thereafter ACCO merged with

General Binding Corporation General Binding Corporation (GBC) is a business machines and supplies manufacturer which makes equipment and supplies for binding, lamination, and other presentation products. The company is part of ACCO Brands ACCO Brands Corporation is an Ame ...

. This merged company is now known as

ACCO Brands ACCO Brands Corporation is an American multinational company. It was created by the merger of ACCO World from Fortune Brands with General Binding Corporation (GBC). History In 1903, Fred J. Kline founded the Clipper Manufacturing Company (a m ...

Golf

The

Acushnet Company The Acushnet Company is an American company focused on the golf market. The company operates a series of brands that manufacture golf equipment, clothing and accessories. The principal brands operated by Acushnet are Titleist, best known for b ...

, purchased in 1976, became American Brands'

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

division. It produced golf balls, shoes, and clubs under the Pinnacle Golf,

and

Cobra Golf Cobra Golf is a sports equipment manufacturing company based in Carlsbad, California, focused on golf equipment, producing a wide range of golf clubs. The company is currently a subsidiary of Puma. History Origin The company was founded in ...

trademarks. The Acushnet Rubber division, which was Acushnet's original business, was sold off in 1985. Cobra Golf was sold to

Puma AG Puma SE is a German multinational corporation which designs and manufactures athletic and casual footwear, apparel, and accessories, headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. Puma is the third largest sportswear manufacturer in the wor ...

in March 2010, and the other golf brands were sold to

in 2011.

Home and hardware

The home and hardware division reached annual sales of over $4 billion, from Waterloo Industries, Moen faucets, Fypon, Therma-Tru doors, Simonton windows,

Master Lock Master Lock is an American company that sells padlocks, combination locks, safes, and related security products. Now a subsidiary of Fortune Brands Innovations, Master Lock Company LLC was formed in 1921 by locksmithing, locksmith-inventor Harry ...

, American Lock, and Vista Window Company, Western Division. Many of these operations passed to Fortune Brands Home & Security when the company was split.

Spirits

Fortune Brands had a stable of well known

spirits Spirit(s) commonly refers to: * Liquor, a distilled alcoholic drink * Spirit (animating force), the non-corporeal essence of living things * Spirit (supernatural entity), an incorporeal or immaterial being Spirit(s) may also refer to: Liquids ...

brands, led by

Jim Beam Jim Beam is an American brand of bourbon whiskey produced primarily at James B. Beam Distilling Co. in Clermont, Kentucky by Suntory Global Spirits. It is one of the best-selling brands of bourbon in the world. Since 1795 (interrupted by Prohi ...

, which it had purchased in 1968. In July 2005, Fortune Brands and French spirits company

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or '' Ricard''). The world's second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

acquired over 25 additional spirits and wine brands from British holding company

Allied Domecq Allied Domecq PLC was a multinational company, headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, that operated spirits, wine, and quick service restaurant businesses. It was once a FTSE 100 Index constituent and the world's second-largest spirits gro ...

. In November 2007,

Constellation Brands Constellation Brands, Inc. is an American producer and marketer of beer, wine, and spirits. A ''Fortune'' 500 company, Constellation is the largest beer import company in the US, measured by sales, and has the third-largest market share (7.4 pe ...

announced a purchase of Fortune Brands' wine operations for $885 million

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introduced the U.S. dollar at par with the Spanish silver dollar, divided it int ...

, a transaction that added of vineyards, several major brands such as Clos du Bois, and 2.6 million cases per year of "super-premium" class wine production. After the other product lines were sold and spun off, the remaining spirits business became Beam Inc.

References

{{Illinois Corporations Conglomerate companies of the United States Holding companies of the United States Distilleries in Illinois Defunct companies based in Illinois American companies established in 1969 Conglomerate companies established in 1969 American companies disestablished in 2011 Holding companies disestablished in 2011 1969 establishments in Illinois 2011 disestablishments in Illinois