As of fiscal 2024 the company had gross sales of $5.32 billion and net sales of $4.178 billion.[2][third-party source needed] The roughly 40 members of the Brown family, cousins that are descendants of founder George Garvin Brown, control more than 70% of the voting shares[3] and in 2016 had a net worth of $12.3 billion.[4]
The company is a sponsor of the Brown–Forman Retailer of the Year awards given by the American Beverage Licensees.[5]
History
This section needs expansion with: history between 1870 and 2005. You can help by adding to it. (March 2015)
According to one source, the company was founded in 1870 by George Garvin Brown, a young pharmaceuticals salesman in Louisville, and his partner John Forman.[6]
Brown had the then-novel idea of selling top-grade whiskey in sealed glass bottles.[7]
A different source says the company was founded by Brown alone and he brought in his accountant as a partner in 1890.[8]
In 1890, the company's name was changed to Brown–Forman and Company in order to reflect the partnership. Despite the temperance movement in America, the company prospered.[6]
Forman was not sure the idea of selling whiskey in glass bottles would be a good business strategy in the long term, and he sold his interest to Brown and Brown's family in 1902.[6]
According to some sources, Brown's partner's given name was George (rather than John) and he died in 1901, and Brown purchased his stock, and shortly after this, Brown–Forman was incorporated.[8][9]
Yet another slightly different story is told in a source published in 1905, saying Brown began in J. T. S. Brown & Bro., which reorganized as Brown, Chambers & Co. in 1873, then Chambers & Brown a year later, then Brown, Thompson & Co. six years later, and then, upon the withdrawal of Thompson, became Brown, Forman & Co. in 1889, and then after Forman's death in 1901, became the Brown–Forman Company.[10]
In 1904, Owsley Brown, George Garvin Brown's son, came into the business. When George Garvin Brown died at the age of 70 in 1917, his son, Owsley, took over as president of Brown–Forman.[11]
In 2005, the company sold its Lenox division (one of the oldest and most famous manufacturers of fine china in the United States), which had been acquired in 1983, to Department 56 for $160 million. The income generated by the sale was distributed to the shareholders in the form of a one time special dividend.[13]
In 2007, the company acquired Tequila Herradura, a Mexican company that produces the Casa Herradura tequila brand (a super-premium tequila produced in Mexico) for $776 million,[15] while it also sold its Hartman Luggage division (one of the leaders in the travel goods industry and originally a subdivision of Lenox), to Clarion Capitol Partners. One year later in 2008, it sold the Bolla and Fontana Candida Italian wine brands to Gruppo Italiano Vini (GIV). The terms of neither sale were disclosed.[16]
In 2009, Newsweek magazine ranked Brown–Forman in their "Green Rankings"[24] which examines 500 of the largest corporations on their environmental track record. Brown–Forman was ranked 63rd out of 500 overall, and was ranked third in the food and beverage industry sector.[25]
Illegal subsidization in China
In 2011, Brown–Forman was accused of illegally subsidizing its distributors in China, and subsequently delaying payment to them as agreed under contract.[26] The Shanghai Administration for Industry and Commerce fined Brown–Forman 2 million renminbi (US$320,000) for illegal subsidization.[27]
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