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.
Motley Fool’s Bill Mann unpacks October 10th's market chaos, what triggered it, and where smart investors should look next. Don’t miss his expert insight!
Skift airline reporter Meghna Maharishi breaks down how the government shutdown is hitting air traffic control—and what it means for travelers and flight safety
Aya Kantorovich, Co-CEO of August Digital, breaks down Bitcoin’s surge, crypto ETFs, institutional investment trends, and the future of safer crypto access.
Most members of the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate setting committee supported further reductions to its key interest rate this year, minutes from last month’s meeting showed.
Sinead O’Sullivan breaks down Taylor Swift’s genius marketing for The Life of a Showgirl, which just set the record for most albums sold in a single week.
