as class a nyse bf.a class b nyse bf.b s & p 500 component bf.b industry distilled beverage wines founded 1870 headquarters louisville kentucky u.s. key people paul c. varga chairman & ceo revenue us 3.614 billion fy 2012 1 operating income us 788 million fy 2012 1 net income us 513 million fy 2012 1 total assets us 3.477 billion fy 2012 1 total equity us 2.069 billion fy 2012 1 number of employees 3 900 2011 website www.brown forman.com the brown forman corporation is one of the largest american owned companies in the spirits and wine business . citation needed based in louisville kentucky it manufactures several well known brands throughout the world including jack daniel s early times old forester woodford reserve canadian mist glendronach benriach glenglassaugh finlandia herradura korbel and chambord . brown forman formerly owned southern comfort and tuaca before selling them off in 2016 . as of fiscal 2012 the company had sales of 3.6 billion . 1 the brown family controls more than 70 % of the voting shares . citation needed contents 1 history 2 stock information 3 china bribery accusations 4 environmental track record 5 brands 5.1 whiskey 5.2 wine 5.3 vodka 5.4 tequila 5.5 liqueur 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit this section needs expansion with history between 1870 and 2005 . you can help by adding to it . march 2015 the company was founded in 1870 by george garvin brown a young pharmaceuticals salesman in louisville who had the then novel idea of selling top grade whiskey in sealed glass bottles . 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 usd 160 million . the income generated by the sale was distributed to the shareholders in the form of a one time special dividend . citation needed part of the company s louisville complex in 2006 the company acquired the chambord liqueur brand a super premium black raspberry liqueur produced in france for us 255 million . 2 3 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 us 776 million 4 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 it sold the bolla and fontana candida italian wine brands to gruppo italiano vini giv . the terms of neither sale were disclosed . citation needed in 2011 the company sold fetzer vineyards and associated brands to the chilean wine producer vi a concha y toro s.a. for us 238 million . 5 in 2013 the company joined leading alcohol producers as part of a producers commitments to reducing harmful drinking . in 2016 the southern comfort and tuaca brands were sold to sazerac company for 543 million . 6 in 2016 brown forman also reached an agreement to purchase the benriach distillery company limited for approximately 285 million . the purchase brought glendronach benriach and glenglassaugh to brown forman s portfolio . 7 stock information edit brown forman has two classes of common stock both of which are traded publicly on the new york stock exchange . the class a shares carry voting privileges and are thinly traded due to control by the brown family while the class b shares are non voting stock . china bribery accusations edit in 2011 brown forman was accused of illegally subsidizing its distributors in china and subsequently delaying payment to them as agreed under contract . 8 the shanghai administration for industry and commerce fined brown forman 2 million renminbi us 320 000 for illegal subsidization . 9 environmental track record edit this section needs expansion . you can help by adding to it . november 2013 in 2009 newsweek magazine ranked brown forman in their green rankings 10 which examines 500 of the largest corporations on their environmental track record . brown forman was ranked 63rd out of 500 overall and was ranked 3rd in their industry . 11 brands edit whiskey edit woodford reserve 12 kentucky straight bourbon whiskey early times 13 kentucky whisky jack daniel s 14 tennessee whiskey old forester kentucky straight bourbon whisky the first bottled bourbon sold exclusively in sealed bottles and the oldest bourbon continuously on the market first bottled in 1870 15 canadian mist blended canadian whisky 16 collingwood 17 canadian whisky glendronach single malt scotch whisky benriach single malt scotch whisky glenglassaugh single malt scotch whisky wine edit korbel 18 champagne distributed sonoma cutrer wines vodka edit finlandia vodka maximus vodka little black dress discontinued 2014 tequila edit pepe lopez tequilas tequila herradura 19 don eduardo tequilas el jimador liqueur edit chambord raspberry liqueur southern comfort 20 new orleans liqueur sold 2016 tuaca italian vanilla liqueur sold 2016 see also edit list of major employers in louisville kentucky references edit a b c d e f brown forman form 10 k annual report filing date jun 27 2012 pdf . secdatabase.com . retrieved feb 11 2013 . brown forman adds chambord to liquor cabinet new york times dealbook march 16 2006 . brown forman completes chambord acquisition press release june 1 2006 . chris mercer 2007 11 29 . us casa herradura helps offset costs for brown forman q2 beverage news & comment . just drinks.com . retrieved 2010 07 30 . concha y toro buying fetzer for 238 million . wine spectator . retrieved 31 december 2012 . http www.telegraph.co.uk finance newsbysector retailandconsumer 12100503 southern comfort brand sold for 543m.html brown forman to acquire the glendronach benriach and glenglassaugh single malt scotch whiskies . retrieved 22 july 2016 . brown forman accused of illegal subsidies in china again . want china times . retrieved 18 november 2013 . brown forman involved in bribery again in shanghai . sinocast . retrieved 18 november 2013 . newsweek greenest big companies in america the 2009 list . retrieved july 21 2010 . newsweek green ranking brown forman . retrieved july 21 2010 . woodford reserve . woodford reserve . retrieved 2010 07 30 . early times . early times . retrieved 2010 07 30 . jack daniel s tennessee whiskey . jackdaniels.com . retrieved 2010 07 30 . love life . sip responsibly . old forester . retrieved 2010 07 30 . canadian mist . canadian mist . retrieved 2010 07 30 . collingwood the toast of the town new canadian whiskey creates a buzz on georgian bay . korbel champagne cellars welcome . korbel.com . retrieved 2010 07 30 . herradura tequila since 1870 . herradura.com . retrieved 2010 07 30 . southern comfort . new orleans original . southerncomfort.com . retrieved 2010 07 30 . external links edit brown forman official website brown forman sec filings retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title brown forman & oldid 739214746 categories companies listed on the new york stock exchangecompanies based in louisville kentuckycompanies established in 1870wine companiesdistilleries in kentuckydrink companies of the united states1870 establishments in kentuckyhidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from may 2016articles with unsourced statements from march 2015articles to be expanded from march 2015all articles to be expandedarticles using small message boxesarticles with unsourced statements from july 2008articles with unsourced statements from september 2011articles to be expanded from november 2013 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent 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