Depression-Proof Product Selection

“he came to the conclusion that an entrepreneur keen on entering the business world should concentrate on products that would sell even during a depression. And if any two products were depression proof, they were liquor and tobacco.”

“He started studying companies that were depression-proof and found that, worldwide, tobacco companies were among the most successful. These included the major companies in the USA, such as RJ Reynolds, Lorillard, American Tobacco and Liggett & Myers. He also studied companies in Spain, Italy, Japan and China. In France, the state monopoly Seita owned famous brands such as Gauloises and Gitanes. Tobacco companies in the United Kingdom included Player, British-American Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco, whose chairman, Lord Winterstoke, head of the Wills family, was the richest man in Britain in 1901 after Cecil John Rhodes, who had made his fortune in South Africa.”