Black renamed the company AMK, after its ticker symbol, and turned it into a vehicle for acquisitions, joining the conglomerate bandwagon of the 1960s.
In September 1968, Black bought 10% of the outstanding shares of United Fruit on the open market, while outbidding other companies, and gained a controlling interest.
Black struggled to keep the company solvent, and in December United Brands announced that it was selling its interest in Foster Grant, Inc. for $70 million.
Homicide detectives concluded that the quarter-inch glass window was broken with Black's attaché case and classified his death a suicide.
[4] A few weeks later the Securities and Exchange Commission uncovered a $1.25 million bribe that United Brands paid to Honduran president Oswaldo López Arellano under authorization by Black in order to obtain a reduction of taxes on banana exports.
They had two children: daughter Judy Schlosberg[7] and son Leon Black,[3] founding member of private equity firm Apollo Management.