Altria has announced plans to acquire e-cigarette and vaping giant NJOY for $2.75 billion in cash just days after selling its stake in Juul Labs, another vaping company that is currently mired in legal challenges.
“We believe we can responsibly accelerate U.S. adult smoker and competitive adult vaper adoption of NJOY ACE in ways that NJOY could not as a standalone company,” said CEO Billy Gifford in a press release. “We believe the strengths of our commercial resources can benefit adult tobacco consumers and expand competition."
While Juul offers a similar set of so-called smoke-free products, it faces a number of legal challenges that Gifford noted could persist for the foreseeable future.
“Juul faces significant regulatory and legal challenges and uncertainties, many of which could exist for many years,” he said.
Some legal challenges remain, however. The deal stipulates that $500 million in cash payments are contingent upon some NJOY products getting regulatory approval.
The owner of Marlboro cigarettes continues to pitch its interest in vaping and e-cigarettes as a way to get smokers to transition to vaping alternatives.
“We are excited to add NJOY’s e-vapor intellectual property as a new platform that we believe we can build on to help more adult smokers transition to smoke-free alternatives,” said Olivier Houpert, chief innovation and product officer for Altria.
That's what his former Commerce secretary says in this interview. Plus: IRS audits, TV news ratings, nasty insults, Minecraft, Prada, and the Panama Canal.
Jeremy Jansen, Head of Global Supply Chain and Trade Sales at Wells Fargo, helps us understand how trade will be affected by tariffs implemented by Trump.
Kory Kantenga, Head of Economics for the Americas at LinkedIn, talks the current state of the labor market and how it has evolved since the pandemic. Watch!
Caraway CEO, Jordan Nathan, joins Cheddar to discuss how one bad accident turned into a successful business venture and how it will help you in the kitchen.
Chelsey Dulaney, reporter from The Wall Street Journal, takes us inside her piece about American Exceptionalism Trade and explains how it will affect consumers.