Zippo Manufacturing Co. generated more than $200 million in sales last year, and this year had the best sales in its history for the months of May and June — although the number of smokers in the U.S. has dropped by 50% since the 1950s —
Forbes
reported.
The magazine estimated that revenue has increased by a compounded 14% in the past three years.
Under non-family (and non-smoking) CEO Greg Booth, the company has marketed the company's lighters to a younger clientele, introduced a line of clothing and camping gear, bolstered its business in China and opened its first retail stores, the article said.
Third-generation owner George Blaisdell Duke named Booth, who had been running Zippo's knifemaking unit, CEO in 2001, after sales dropped in the 2000s, the
Forbes
article reported.
Booth is due to retire at the end of 2015 and will likely be replaced by someone within the company, the article said. Duke hopes one of his two sons, both of whom are in their 20s, will succeed him, the article said. (Source:
Forbes,
Aug. 20, 2014.)
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