RJR

RJR is an acronym that can refer to multiple entities in business history, most notably two American companies with related origins: RJR Nabisco and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company.

RJR Nabisco was a U.S. holding company formed in 1985 through a leveraged buyout of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Nabisco Brands by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. The merger created one of the era’s largest and most notable corporate consolidations, and the name became closely associated with the leveraged-buyout era. Nabisco Brands was later separated and sold to Kraft Foods in 2000, while the remaining tobacco business continued under the RJR Nabisco umbrella and, in 2004, was reorganized as Reynolds American Inc.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is an American tobacco company founded in 1875 by R. J. Reynolds and based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grew into a leading U.S. cigarette producer, known for brands such as Camel and Winston. Following the 1980s restructurings, the tobacco operations remained linked to the RJR Nabisco lineage and later to Reynolds American Inc. In 2017, Reynolds American Inc was acquired by British American Tobacco, with BAT assuming ownership of the U.S. cigarette portfolio previously controlled by RJR.

RJR may also be encountered as a shorthand reference in discussions of these entities and their legacy brands or corporate units, particularly in histories of U.S. tobacco and consumer-products conglomerates.