In 1961 the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht ran about 300 discount stores together. That year they decided to go separate ways. The best-known reason is a dispute over cigarettes. Theo wanted to sell tobacco for its higher margins, and Karl refused. Many experts doubt that this alone caused the split. Since then Germany has had Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. The line between their territories is called the Aldi-Äquator, the Aldi equator. It runs from the lower Rhine near Mülheim across large parts of Hesse to north of Fulda and Bavaria. The two firms are separate companies, and they still work together in some central areas.