James Duke’s Contribution to the Growing Tobacco Industry

James Duke was an American businessman and industrialist who was known for modern cigarette production and the Duke University. James was exposed to the tobacco industry at an early age because his father, Washington, owned a tobacco manufacturing facility.

When James and his brother Benjamin took over the family business in the 1880s, James was awarded with the license for the exclusive use of first automated cigarette maker. By 1890, James and his company were supplying 40% of US demands for cigarettes. In a move to secure his position in the industry, James consolidated four competitors into a corporate entity and named it American Tobacco Company. James held a monopoly of the US cigarette market.

Soon, James moved to conquer the British cigarette market. British cigarette manufacturers were forced to merge into one company named Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland Ltd. Two years into the intense competition between the two companies, Imperial took the competition to the US market. Wanting to settle the competition, American tobacco entered into an agreement with Imperial. American Tobacco held the American market, Imperial tobacco held the British market, and the British-American Tobacco Company held the tobacco market in the rest of the world.