R J Reynolds

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.'s $3-billion takeover of fellow cigarette giant Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. was approved by federal antitrust enforcers, who rejected a staff recommendation to block the combination. By a 4-0 vote, the Federal Trade Commission in Washington cleared the way for R.J. Reynolds, maker of Camel and Salem, to acquire the U.S. unit of British American Tobacco, which makes Lucky Strike and Kool. The new company will be called Reynolds American Inc. R.J.

The U.S. government may try to block R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc.'s proposed $3-billion acquisition of Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. after antitrust enforcers concluded that the combination would stifle competition, people familiar with the matter said. Federal Trade Commission lawyers have recommended that the agency challenge the plan by R.J. Reynolds, the second-largest U.S. tobacco company, to acquire the No. 3 company, the people said.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, said first-quarter earnings surged 72%, helped by reduced costs and increased shipments of full-price brands. Net income had its biggest gain in more than a year: It rose to $122 million, or $1.43 a share, from $71 million, or 84 cents, a year earlier. Sales were unchanged at $1.22 billion, the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based company said. Sales had fallen the previous five quarters. Shares of R.J. Reynolds rose $2.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. will get a California Supreme Court review of a $14.8-million fine the company received for distributing tobacco at events where children were present. The California Supreme Court agreed to decide whether state Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer exceeded his authority with the fine for violating a state law banning tobacco giveaways on public grounds where minors might be in attendance.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. lost its bid for a U.S. Supreme Court appeal of a $165,000 award it paid a cancer-stricken Florida smoker who has since died. The court refused, without comment, to hear the second- largest U.S. tobacco company's arguments that it couldn't be penalized for selling a legal product. Floyd Kenyon, a retired schoolteacher, blamed R.J.

The European Commission said Thursday it would press ahead with a U.S. lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. on money-laundering charges after a U.S. court threw out a separate cigarette-smuggling claim. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York on Wednesday upheld a lower-court decision to dismiss the European smuggling suit against R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris Cos. The European Union's central regulator is moving ahead with a suit against R.J.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. must pay a $14.8-million fine for handing out free packs of cigarettes at an event where children were present, a California appeals court ruled. R.J. Reynolds had sought to overturn the fine for violating California's ban on tobacco-product giveaways on public grounds where minors might be in attendance. The company argued that the state law was preempted by a federal cigarette labeling law.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. reported a $3.45-billion quarterly loss as it took a big restructuring charge, but its shares jumped 13% as investors applauded its plan to buy the U.S. unit of rival British American Tobacco. The plan to combine RJR's main operations with British American's Brown & Williamson would create a larger No. 2 player in the United States behind Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA, which controls nearly half the market. RJR said its third-quarter net loss was $3.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc., the second-largest U.S. cigarette maker, must face trial in Illinois on claims it misled smokers about the dangers of "light" cigarettes, a state appeals court ruled, though the trial judge has delayed the case for 90 days. The appellate court in Mount Vernon, Ill., rejected a request by R.J. Reynolds to postpone the trial until the state Supreme Court rules in a similar case against Philip Morris USA.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings Inc. said Wednesday that it would slash its workforce by 40%, or about 2,600 jobs, to cut costs and would focus its marketing on two main brands while combating competition from low-cost cigarettes. The company said its top priority would be to support its top-selling Camel cigarettes, with the Salem menthol brand as its second priority. News of the restructuring drove shares of the No. 2 U.S. cigarette maker up nearly 14%. R.J.