Armour and Company

Armour & Company
Company type	Private (historical)
Industry	Meat packing, pharmaceuticals, soap production
Founded	1863 in Chicago, Illinois, United States
Founder	Armour brothers, Philip Danforth Armour
Fate	Acquired by Greyhound Corporation in 1970; various divisions sold/licensed subsequently
Headquarters	Chicago (original), later Phoenix, Arizona (after 1971), United States
Area served	United States (nationwide)
Key people	Philip Danforth Armour (founder), William Wood-Prince (president from 1958), Jess Nicks (president after 1971)
Products	Meat packing products, pharmaceuticals, Dial soap, canned meats (Armour Star), refrigerated meats (Armour Meats)
Number of employees	Approximately 50,000 at peak
Parent	Greyhound Corporation (from 1970 to divestitures)

Armour & Company was a prominent American enterprise in the meat packing industry, established in Chicago in 1863 by the Armour brothers, with leadership from Philip Danforth Armour. By 1880, it had risen to become the foremost business in Chicago, positioning the city and its Union Stock Yards as the hub of the United States’ meatpacking sector. The Omaha, Nebraska plant developed into the largest meatpacking operation in the nation by 1959. Armour also diversified into pharmaceuticals through Armour Pharmaceuticals and ventured into soap production, introducing Dial soap in 1948.

Currently, the food-related trademarks of Armour are split between Smithfield Foods—which markets refrigerated meats under "Armour Meats"—and ConAgra Brands, which handles canned, shelf-stable products branded as "Armour Star." The pharmaceutical division is now owned by Forest Laboratories, while Dial soap belongs to Henkel.

1863–1970

Armour and Company began its operations in Milwaukee in 1863 when Philip D. Armour teamed up with John Plankinton to create Plankinton, Armour and Company. They expanded Plankinton’s meatpacking business into cities such as Chicago, Kansas City, and New York City. The partnership ended in 1884, with the Milwaukee segment evolving into Cudahy Packing Company.

Early on, Armour broadened its product range beyond meat by utilizing animal byproducts to manufacture items like glue, oils, fertilizers, hairbrushes, buttons, oleomargarine, and pharmaceuticals. Initially operating without labor unions or regulatory oversight, the company resisted unionization vigorously and employed strikebreakers during labor conflicts in 1904 and 1921. It was not until the late 1930s that full union representation was established under the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

During the 1898 Spanish–American War, Armour provided half a million pounds of beef to the US Army; however, some consignments were spoiled, leading to widespread foodborne illness among troops.

In the early twentieth century, Dale Carnegie worked as a salesman for Armour’s South Omaha division and became its top-performing representative—a foundation for his later acclaim as a business author.

Financial setbacks in the early 1920s compelled the Armour family to transfer majority ownership to financier Frederick H. Prince. Despite this transition, Armour sustained its status as a leading American company through both the Great Depression and heightened wartime demand during World War II, expanding nationwide with a workforce nearing 50,000 at its peak.

In 1948, Armour pioneered personal care innovation by launching Dial soap—a deodorant soap containing germicidal AT-7 that provided all-day odor protection. Through aggressive marketing campaigns, Dial became America’s best-selling deodorant soap throughout the 1950s. The brand later extended into deodorants and shaving creams during the 1960s. Strong sales growth led to the establishment of Armour-Dial, Inc. in 1967 as a dedicated consumer products subsidiary.

In 1958, William Wood-Prince—cousin of Frederick H. Prince—assumed the presidency of Armour and Company.

1970–1985

In 1970, Chicago-based Greyhound Corporation acquired Armour and Company following an unsuccessful hostile bid by General Host Corporation in 1969. Prior to this acquisition, Armour had intended to merge with Gulf and Western Industries in 1968.

Greyhound relocated Armour’s headquarters from Chicago to Phoenix, Arizona in 1971 and invested $83 million in constructing a new facility. Jess Nicks—a Greyhound executive and father of musician Stevie Nicks—was appointed president of Armour.

In 1978, Greyhound divested Armour Pharmaceuticals to Revlon, which subsequently sold it to Rorer (later known as Rhône-Poulenc Rorer) in 1985. Forest Laboratories obtained rights to Armour Thyroid from Rhône-Poulenc Rorer in 1991. The remaining pharmaceutical assets originally under Armour are now part of CSL Behring.

Armour’s Factor VIII product "Factorate" was linked to contaminating thousands of hemophiliacs worldwide with HIV during the 1980s. This led to extensive litigation and criminal investigations amid accusations that evidence concerning product safety was deliberately withheld.

Due to Greyhound’s aggressive diversification strategy resulting in inconsistent financial outcomes, chairman John W. Teets initiated a series of divestitures starting in 1981. After labour strikes at Armour facilities during the early 1980s, Teets closed 29 plants and sold Armour Food Company to ConAgra in 1983 but maintained ownership of the Armour Star canned meat brand through licensing agreements managed by Armour-Dial.

1985–2000

In 1985, Greyhound purchased the household products segment of Purex Industries and combined it with Armour-Dial, creating The Dial Corporation. By 1991, Greyhound had changed its name to The Dial Corp. Four years later, in 1995, the company separated its consumer-products division under the Dial name. The service-oriented operations were rebranded as Viad Corp, while the newly independent Dial Corporation moved its headquarters to Scottsdale, Arizona, close to its research and development facility. During Malcolm Jozoff’s tenure as CEO—who previously worked at P&G—the company underwent significant workforce reductions in 1996 and experienced several failed acquisition attempts over the following four years. In 2000, Herbert Baum succeeded Jozoff with instructions to explore potential buyers for the business.

2000–present

In March 2004, the German multinational Henkel KGaA, based in Düsseldorf, acquired Dial. Two years later, in 2006, Dial’s food division—comprising Armour Star canned meats—was divested to Pinnacle Foods. Pinnacle itself was purchased by the private equity firm Blackstone Group in 2007. Subsequently, in 2018, Conagra Brands acquired Pinnacle Foods for $10.9 billion, broadening its frozen foods range. Additionally, in July 2006, ConAgra sold most of its refrigerated meat brands, including Armour, to Smithfield Foods for $575 million.

External links

Armour Meats (Smithfield)
Armour Star (Conagra)