In 1926, the Liberian government gave the Firestone Tire company the right to lease up to 1 million acres of land for 99 years at a cost of 6 cents per acre. Firestone then set about establishing rubber tree plantations of the non-native South American rubber tree, "Hevea brasiliensis" in the country. By the 1950s, the company was Liberia's largest private employer and also its largest exporter. Today, Firestone's rubber plantation in Liberia is the world's largest contiguous rubber plantation, operated by the Firestone (now Bridgestone) subsidiary, the Firestone Natural Rubber Company.