The United Fruit Company renamed itself United Brands in 1970.
The change followed a merger with AMK Corporation, a public company controlled by businessman Eli M. Black. The transaction combined United Fruit’s tropical-fruit business with AMK’s ownership of the meatpacker John Morrell & Co., creating United Brands Company in June 1970.
United Fruit had been founded in 1899 and became one of the most powerful companies in Central America and the Caribbean. Its plantations, railways, ports, and shipping networks helped make bananas a major international commodity, but also brought accusations of political interference and exploitative labor practices.
A common mix-up is confusing the 1970 transition with the later corporate rebranding. United Brands remained the company’s name until 1984, when investor Carl Lindner Jr. took control and renamed it Chiquita Brands International. That later name is why some accounts describe the firm as “Chiquita” when discussing its United Fruit past.