History
Company history started in 1903 with Henry Perrine Baldwin and David Dwight Baldwin, sons of medical missionary Rev. Dwight Baldwin. The family acquired land in East and West Maui, and over the next 100 years, they began ranching and their primary business of cultivating pineapples. The family expanded their land holdings, owning 22600 acre of land on Maui island by 1933.
In 1962, it merged with Baldwin Packers. In 1969, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. was created by combining Alexander & Baldwin and J. Walter Cameron family holdings and went public, the Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. being a subsidiary devoted to agricultural operations.[9] Colin Campbell Cameron, a fifth-generation descendant of the Baldwin family, became its first president and CEO until his death in 1992.[10][11] Harry Weinberg became an investor, but the Cameron family prevented him from getting a board seat.[12]
In 1975 ML&P incorporated Kapalua Land Company, Ltd. as its subsidiary dedicated to resort development. Maui Pineapple Company, Ltd. was established as its subsidiary devoted to pineapple and other agricultural operations. In 1975 the company opened its first golf course. Two other golf courses, homes, luxury condos, and another hotel (The Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua) followed over the next two decades. In 1978, ML&P dedicated 3307 acre of coastal land to establish the Honolua-Mokule'ia Marine Life Conservation District. In 1988, ML&P committed 8304 acre of its West Maui land, including Puu Kukui, the summit of the West Maui mountain range, to conservation. This area eventually became the Puu Kukui Watershed Preserve, one of the largest private nature preserves in Hawaii. In 1989 hundreds of remains of ancient Hawaiians were discovered when excavating for a new hotel.[13]
Colin Cameron's son Richard Cameron (born circa 1955) served as executive and chairman when the pineapple cannery (the last in the United States) shut down, and only fresh fruit was marketed. When Weinberg died and the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation inherited his stock shares, lawyer Daniel H. Case arranged a sale of the shares to keep the company intact.[14] Gary L. Gifford announced he would resign May 27, 2003, and was temporarily replaced by Donald Young. A shopping center in Kahului was sold later that year.[15]
Former AOL executive Steve Case (Daniel Case's son) became an investor in 1999 buying the former Weinberg stake.[16] Richard Cameron resigned as chairman, and stepped down as director in 2005.[17] Cole started an ambitious expansion program for the resort.[18] The original Kapalua Bay Hotel was torn down in 2006,[19] and replaced by a "club" with memberships reportedly sold for $375,000. After rising fuel costs, a real estate price drop, and reduced tourism caused losses, layoffs were announced in 2008.[20] Case joined the board in 2008 and Cole left at the end of that year.[21]
On December 31, 2009, MPC ceased pineapple operations after 97 years. The move briefly put Maui out of the pineapple business, and left only a small pineapple operation run by Dole Food Company on Oahu growing one of Hawaii's signature crops.[22] A group of former Maui Pineapple Company executives and local investors assumed pineapple operations on January 1, 2010. The new company, Haliimaile Pineapple Company, Ltd. (HPC), continued to grow and market fresh pineapple under the Maui Gold Brand to the Hawaii market.[23] HPC purchased and licensed key assets, and leased farm land, equipment, and buildings from ML&P.[24][25] The new company kept 65 of the old employees.[25]
The Kapalua Farms organic pineapple operation was taken over by Ulupono Sustainable Agriculture Development, backed by investor Pierre Omidyar in early 2010.[1][26]
In July and August 2010 Case increased his holdings in the company to over 60%, as the company retired some debt.[21] In 2009 the Plantation golf course at Kapalua was sold to TY Management Corporation, and in September 2010 the Kapalua Bay course was sold to the same investors.[27]
