Universal Corporation is one of the world's leading tobacco merchants. Incorporated in 1886, Universal is headquarters in

Richmond, Virginia Richmond ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), U.S. commonwealth of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city (United States), independent city since 1871. ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Current operations

Universal buys, sells, and processes flue-cured and burley tobacco. It also holds a 49% interest in Socotab, LLC, a large dealer in oriental leaf tobaccos. The company does not manufacture cigarettes or other consumer tobacco products, although its largest customer is

Altria Group Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc. until 2003) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes, and medical products in the treatment of illnesses c ...

(owner of

Philip Morris USA Philip Morris USA is an American tobacco company. They are a division of the American tobacco corporation Altria Group. It has been the leading cigarette manufacturer in the U.S. since the late 20th century. Its major brands include Marlboro, Vi ...

). Universal

common stock Common stock is a form of corporate equity ownership, a type of security. The terms voting share and ordinary share are also used frequently outside of the United States. They are known as equity shares or ordinary shares in the UK and other C ...

is part of the

S&P 600 The S&P SmallCap 600 Index (S&P 600) is a stock market index established by S&P Global Ratings. It covers roughly the small-cap range of American stocks, using a capitalization-weighted index. To be included in the index, a stock must have a to ...

index Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...

History

After the 1911 breakup of 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 ...

trust, Jacquelin P. Taylor incorporated Universal out of six formerly independent leaf merchants. On January 3, 2020, Universal purchased FruitSmart.

Bribery

In 2010, Universal along with its competitor

Pyxus Policastro Bussentino (or simply Policastro) is an Italian town and hamlet (''frazione'') of the municipality of Santa Marina (of which it is its seat) in the province of Salerno, Campania region. It is a former bishopric, now titular see, and ...

(then Alliance One) were accused of violations of the

Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from Bribery, bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applic ...

. The company is alleged to have used its subsidiaries to pay $850,000, $165,000 and $800,000 to officials in Malawi, Mozambique and Thailand, respectively. The company paid about $9 million in penalties and refunded disgorged profits to settle the charges.

References

External links

Company Home PageCompany History
Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Tobacco companies of the United States American companies established in 1886 Companies based in Richmond, Virginia 1918 establishments in Virginia Agriculture companies established in 1918 {{US-company-stub