Who owns Winston (United States)?

Winston (United States) is owned by Imperial Brands (the United Kingdom, LSE: IMB), which has owned the brand since 12 June 2015.^[1][2]

Evidence: Imperial Brands PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2025. Last checked 27 September 2026.

Key facts

Current owner: Imperial Brands PLC reported
Owned since: 12 June 2015
Owner HQ: 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, Bristol
Origin: 🇺🇸 United States
Founded: 1954
Category: Tobacco & nicotine › Tobacco products › Cigarettes
Parent ticker: LSE: IMB
Trademark registrant: ITG BRANDS, LLC (USPTO)
Last verified: 27 September 2026 · 4 sources

About Winston (United States)

Winston is a cigarette brand Imperial's US subsidiary ITG Brands acquired, along with Kool, Salem and Maverick, from Reynolds American and Lorillard on 12 June 2015 as part of the divestitures required to clear the Reynolds–Lorillard merger. Imperial's FY2025 annual report describes Winston as competing within a challenged premium segment in the Americas, where the brand gained share after Imperial refined its personality and, within the year, launched a new Winston Select range that gained traction with core franchise consumers. Outside the United States the Winston name belongs to Japan Tobacco, which acquired R.J. Reynolds' international tobacco business in 1999, so the same mark has different owners on either side of the US border.

Trademark record for Winston (United States)

The USPTO record for the Winston (United States) mark lists ITG BRANDS, LLC as the owner of record (serial number 71661117). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.^[3]

Ownership timeline of Winston (United States)

2015 – present Imperial Brands ^[1][2] reported

Where Winston (United States) sits in Imperial Brands

Controlling ownership as of 2026-11-08. Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.

Open the full Imperial Brands ownership tree →

See the full Imperial Brands brand portfolio (21) →

Other brands owned by Imperial Brands

Imperial Brands controls 21 brands on Brandtree, 20 of them in tobacco & nicotine.

Also in tobacco & nicotine

All Imperial Brands brands →

Other brands in cigarettes, and who owns them

Imperial Brands has more brands in cigarettes on Brandtree than any other owner: 11 of 81.

Brand	Owner	Owner based in
GG Mild	Gudang Garam	🇮🇩 Indonesia
Camel (United States)	British American Tobacco	🇬🇧 United Kingdom
American Legend	Karelia	🇬🇷 Greece
Boston (Eastern cigarettes)	Eastern Company	🇪🇬 Egypt
Djarum 76	Djarum	🇮🇩 Indonesia
Capstan	ITC	🇮🇳 India
Camel	Japan Tobacco	🇯🇵 Japan
L&M (United States)	Altria	🇺🇸 United States

Every brand in cigarettes and its owner →

About the owner: Imperial Brands

Imperial Brands is a publicly listed company headquartered in Bristol, United Kingdom, founded in 1901. Brandtree records 21 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: IMB.

Imperial Brands is a British tobacco and next-generation-products group formed in 1901 as the Imperial Tobacco Company through the merger of thirteen British cigarette and tobacco manufacturers responding to American Tobacco Company's entry into the UK market. It describes itself in its FY2025 annual report as "a stronger challenger business" built on a deliberately focused portfolio of combustible, heated tobacco, vapour and modern oral nicotine brands sold across five priority combustible markets — the USA, Germany, the UK, Spain and Australia — plus growth clusters in Africa, the Middle East, Turkey and Central & Eastern Europe. Its FY2025 revenue-generating combustible categories are cigarettes, fine cut tobacco and mass market cigars; premium cigars were exited in 2020.

Imperial Brands: full profile, brands and acquisition history →

🇺🇸 Winston (United States) and other American brands

Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,570 brands that began in the United States. 501 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Winston (United States) among them.

ALP — Turning Point Brands 🇺🇸
Black & Mild — Altria 🇺🇸
Camel — Japan Tobacco 🇯🇵
Camel (United States) — British American Tobacco 🇬🇧
Captain Black — Scandinavian Tobacco Group 🇩🇰
Charlie's Chalk Dust — Charlie's Holdings 🇺🇸

All American brands and who owns them →

Frequently asked questions

Who is the parent company of Winston (United States)?

The parent company of Winston (United States) is Imperial Brands, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.

Is Winston (United States) owned by Japan Tobacco?

No. Winston (United States) is owned by Imperial Brands, not Japan Tobacco.

Is Winston (United States) American or British?

Winston (United States) originated in the United States in 1954, but it is owned today by Imperial Brands, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So Winston (United States) is an American-origin brand under British ownership.

Since when has Imperial Brands owned Winston (United States)?

Imperial Brands has owned Winston (United States) since 12 June 2015.

Is Winston (United States) still owned by Imperial Brands?

Yes. As of 27 September 2026, Winston (United States) is still owned by Imperial Brands. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.

Sources (4) & corrections

Last verified 27 September 2026. Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.

[1] Imperial Brands PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2025 — Imperial Brands PLC, Annual report; retrieved 21 September 2026.
[2] Reynolds American Inc., Form 8-K, 12 June 2015 (completion of the Lorillard merger and the divestiture to ITG Brands) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, SEC Form 8-K, published 12 June 2015; retrieved 27 September 2026.
[3] USPTO: WINSTON, serial 71661117, registration 636355 — United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark registry; retrieved 27 September 2026.
[4] ITG Brands: Our Brands — Winston — ITG Brands, LLC, Official document; retrieved 27 September 2026.

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