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Going Down Tobacco Road: R. J. Reynolds' Tobacco Empire: The Gold Leaf and North Carolina
Take a Historic Walk Along Tobacco Road . . .
If you invested one dollar in tobacco stocks in 1900, by 2014, you would have had an astonishing $6.3 million. For good or bad, researchers at the London School of Economics reported in 2015 that tobacco was the most successful industry in America from the turn of the century onward.Financial analyst Gene Hoots worked for tobacco empire R. J. Reynolds for twenty-one years. During that time, he saw the empire grow and then get destroyed by “barbarians” in 1989’s biggest leveraged buyout in history. But Gene knew there was a longer, more dramatic story that both led to and followed the historic buyout.Going Down Tobacco Road is a new look at how the “gold leaf” became king in North Carolina and its impact on robber barons, factory workers, farmers, and almost everyone else in the state. But it is also the story of an empire whose profitability from a controversial product brought untold riches to businesses, governments, and several million people and then caused its own destruction.The universal business lessons from this story about the rise, fall, and resurrection of an industrial giant apply to anyone who must allocate financial resources, no matter whether for a personal savings plan or a major business enterprise.
If you invested one dollar in tobacco stocks in 1900, by 2014, you would have had an astonishing $6.3 million. For good or bad, researchers at the London School of Economics reported in 2015 that tobacco was the most successful industry in America from the turn of the century onward.Financial analyst Gene Hoots worked for tobacco empire R. J. Reynolds for twenty-one years. During that time, he saw the empire grow and then get destroyed by “barbarians” in 1989’s biggest leveraged buyout in history. But Gene knew there was a longer, more dramatic story that both led to and followed the historic buyout.Going Down Tobacco Road is a new look at how the “gold leaf” became king in North Carolina and its impact on robber barons, factory workers, farmers, and almost everyone else in the state. But it is also the story of an empire whose profitability from a controversial product brought untold riches to businesses, governments, and several million people and then caused its own destruction.The universal business lessons from this story about the rise, fall, and resurrection of an industrial giant apply to anyone who must allocate financial resources, no matter whether for a personal savings plan or a major business enterprise.
- GenresBusiness
362 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 16, 2020
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103 people want to read
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December 15, 2024
100% worth getting. I learned so much about the tobacco industry - but also enjoyed reading the stories that the author shares based on his own decades ( really life!) of experiences of being involved in the industry.
So much knowledge is shared that isn't out there online really. Also worth subbing to his blog / website since they add to the overall stories.
So much knowledge is shared that isn't out there online really. Also worth subbing to his blog / website since they add to the overall stories.
Displaying 1 of 1 review