Altria Group, Inc. (previously known as Philip Morris Companies, Inc.) is an American corporation and one of the world's largest producers and marketers of tobacco, cigarettes, and medical products in the treatment of illnesses caused by tobacco. It operates worldwide and is headquartered in Henrico County, Virginia, just outside the city of Richmond.
Philip MorrisAdvertisement for Philip Morris cigarettes during the early 20th centuryAltria Center for Research and Technology in Downtown Richmond, Virginia, March 2020
Altria emerged from Philip Morris USA. The onset of "rebranding" of Philip Morris Companies to Altria took place in 2003 (Philip Morris would later split, with PM USA remaining Altria's primary and only consistently held asset). According to Altria, it was created because Philip Morris wished to emphasize that its business portfolio had come to consist of more than Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International; at the time, it owned an 84% stake in Kraft,[4] although that business has since been spun off.[5] The name "Altria" is claimed to come from the Latin word for "high" and was part of a trend of companies rebranding to names that previously did not exist, Accenture (previously Andersen Consulting) and Verizon being notable examples,[6] though linguist Steven Pinker suggests that in fact the name is an "egregious example" of phonesthesia—with the company attempting to "switch its image from bad people who sell addictive carcinogens to a place or state marked by altruism and other lofty values".[7]
The company's branding consultants, the Wirthlin Group, said: "The name change alternative offers the possibility of masking the negatives associated with the tobacco business", thus enabling the company to improve its image and raise its profile without sacrificing tobacco profits.[8] Philip Morris executives thought a name change would insulate the larger corporation and its other operating companies from the political pressures on tobacco.[8]
The rebranding took place amidst social, legal, and financially troubled circumstances.[vague][9] In 2003 Altria was ranked Fortune number 11, and has steadily declined since. In 2010 Altria Group (MO) ranked at Fortune number 137, whereas its former asset, Philip Morris International, was ranked 94th.[10]
In 2006, a United States court found that Philip Morris "publicly ... disputed scientific findings linking smoking and disease knowing their assertions were false."[11] In a 2006 ruling, a federal court found that Altria, along with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris were found guilty of misleading the public about the dangers of smoking.[12] Within this ruling, it was noted that "defendants altered the chemical form of nicotine delivered in mainstream cigarette smoke for the purpose of improving nicotine transfer efficiency and increasing the speed with which nicotine is absorbed by smokers."[13] This was done by manipulating smoke pH with ammonia. Adding ammonia increases the smoke pH, in a process called "freebasing" which causes smokers to be "exposed to higher internal nicotine doses and become more addicted to the product."[14]
On March 30, 2007, Altria's 88.1% stake in Kraft Foods was spun off, through a distribution of the remaining stake of shares (88.1%) to Altria shareholders. That same year, Altria began selling all its shares of Philip Morris International to Altria stockholders, a spin-off that was completed on March 28, 2008. Again in 2007 the company began the acquisition of cigar manufacturer John Middleton Co. from Bradford Holdings, which was complete in 2008. After Philip Morris International spun off, the former international subsidiaries halted the purchase of tobacco from America, which was a major factor in the closing of a newly renovated plant in North Carolina, an approximately 50% reduction in manufacturing, large-scale layoffs, and induced early retirements.[15]
In 2008, Altria officially moved its headquarters from New York City to Richmond, Virginia, after Philip Morris sold its downtown offices in New York City a decade earlier. With a few exceptions, all manufacturing, commercial, and executive employees had long been based in and around Richmond. Currently the company is headquartered in an unincorporated area within Henrico County, less than five miles west of the city limits of Richmond and less than ten miles from its downtown Richmond campus.
Aside from the Philip Morris/Altria headquarters, some of their other buildings included the Altria Center for Research and Technology in downtown Richmond, their manufacturing center in South Richmond, and the adjacent operations center which began shutting down in 2007–2008, as a result of the loss of demand from PMI member companies. The layoffs beginning in 2007 affected thousands of Altria, Altria Client Services, Philip Morris USA, and contracted employees in Richmond and North Carolina.
On December 8, 2018, Altria announced its intent to acquire a 45% stake in Cronos Group for $1.8 billion.[17]
On December 20, 2018, Altria finalized the acquisition of a 35% stake in JUUL Labs, an e-cigarette company based out of San Francisco, California, for $12.8 billion.[18] On November 3, 2019, it was reported that Altria was taking a $4.5 billion writedown on its stake in Juul, 35% of its original value.[19] On July 28, 2022, it was reported that Altria's investment in Juul is now worth only 5% of the original amount of $12.8 billion. Despite the losses, Altria has announced that it will continue to support Juul and avoid investing in competing products.[20]
Altria is taking a stake in the global business of Swiss tobacco company Burger Söhne (Helix Innovations with the On! brand) for $372 million in June 2019.
Altria and Japan Tobacco announced a joint venture called Horizon Innovations LLC on October 27, 2022. Horizon, owned 75 percent by Altria and 25 percent by Japan Tobacco, intends to sell Ploomheated tobacco sticks in the United States. FDA approval was expected to take until 2025, with customers able to buy Ploom by 2027.[21]
Altria completed the acquisition of NJOY Holdings, Inc. on June 1, 2023.[22]
Finances
For the fiscal year 2020, Altria reported earnings of US$4.45 billion, with an annual revenue of US$26.15 billion. Altria's shares traded at over $66 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at over US$118.5 billion in October 2018.[23] As of 2018, the company ranked 154th on the Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by revenue.[24]
Prior to being based in Virginia, Philip Morris had its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.[27] In 2003, Philip Morris announced that it would move its headquarters to Virginia. The company said that it planned to keep around 750 employees in its former headquarters. Brendan McCormick, a spokesperson for Philip Morris, said that the company estimated that the move would save the company over $60 million each year.[28] The company now has its head offices in an unincorporated area of Henrico County, Virginia, near Richmond.[29] In addition, the company has a 450,000-square-foot, $350 million Center for Research and Technology located in downtown Richmond at the Virginia BioTechnology Research Park that employs approximately 600 scientists, engineers and support staff.
Diversification
Altria, like other tobacco companies, has invested in science and medical companies, which develop and produce medical products for conditions caused or aggravated by smoking.[30] As of 2024, Altrias three medical subsidiaries included the following: Cronos group (maker of recreational cannabis), Lexaria Bioscience (Developer of proprietary drug delivery technology, DehydraTECH, to improve active pharmaceutical ingredients entrance into the bloodstream) and Micreos (biotech company focused on discovering and developing recombinant proteins for chronic dermatology and oncology conditions).[30]
In August 2006, the Altria group was found guilty of civil fraud and racketeering.[35][36] The lawsuit claimed that Altria's marketing of "light" and "low tar" cigarettes constituted fraudulent misrepresentations under the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act (MUTPA) because it deceived smokers into thinking the products are safer than regular cigarettes.
The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any warm, moist environment, which means it can be farmed on all continents except Antarctica.
Imperial Brands plc is a British multinational tobacco company headquartered in London and Bristol, England. It is the world's fourth-largest international cigarette company measured by market share after Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco and Japan Tobacco and the world's largest producer of fine-cut tobacco and tobacco papers.
Swedish Match AB is a Swedish multinational tobacco company headquartered in Stockholm. The company manufactures snus, nicotine pouches, moist snuff, tobacco- and nicotine-free pouch products, chewing tobacco, chew bags, tobacco bits, cigars, matches, lighters, and other fire products with operations in Sweden, Denmark, the United States, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, the Netherlands, and the Philippines. The company's origins can be traced back to 1868, and Ivar Kreuger. Swedish Match has played an important part in Sweden's industrial development.
Philip Morris USA is an American tobacco company. They are a division of the American tobacco corporation Altria Group. It has been the leading cigarette manufacturer in the U.S. since the late 20th century. Its major brands include Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Benson & Hedges, Merit, and Parliament.
Benson & Hedges is a British brand of cigarettes owned by American conglomerate Altria. Cigarettes under the Benson & Hedges name are manufactured worldwide by different companies such as Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, Philip Morris USA, British American Tobacco, or Japan Tobacco, depending on the region. In the UK, they are registered in Old Bond Street in London, and were manufactured in Lisnafillan, Ballymena, Northern Ireland, before production was moved to Eastern Europe in 2017.
Nicotine marketing is the marketing of nicotine-containing products or use. Traditionally, the tobacco industry markets cigarette smoking, but it is increasingly marketing other products, such as electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products. Products are marketed through social media, stealth marketing, mass media, and sponsorship. Expenditures on nicotine marketing are in the tens of billions a year; in the US alone, spending was over US$1 million per hour in 2016; in 2003, per-capita marketing spending was $290 per adult smoker, or $45 per inhabitant. Nicotine marketing is increasingly regulated; some forms of nicotine advertising are banned in many countries. The World Health Organization recommends a complete tobacco advertising ban.
Philip Morris International Inc. (PMI) is an American multinational tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries. The most recognized and best selling product of the company is Marlboro. Philip Morris International is often referred to as one of the companies comprising Big Tobacco.
U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company is an American company that manufactures smokeless tobacco products, notably dipping tobacco, as well as chewing tobacco, snus, and dry snuff. The company is a subsidiary of Altria.
An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), commonly called a vape, is a device that simulates tobacco smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such, using an e-cigarette is often called "vaping". The atomizer is a heating element that vaporizes a liquid solution called e-liquid, which quickly cools into an aerosol of tiny droplets, vapor and air. The vapor mainly comprises propylene glycol and/or glycerin, usually with nicotine and flavoring. Its exact composition varies, and depends on several things including user behavior.
Tobacco politics refers to the politics surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco, likewise with regulations.
JTI - Japan Tobacco International is the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco, one of the three largest international Big Tobacco product manufacturers. The holding company is JT International SA and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan; Geneva, Switzerland; and Raleigh, North Carolina. It sells its brands in 120 countries.
Pax Labs is an American electronic vaporizer company founded in 2007 that markets the Pax vaporizers. The company developed the Juul e-cigarette. Juul Labs was spun out as a separate company in 2017.
A modified risk tobacco product (MRTP) is a legal designation in the United States for a tobacco product that poses lower health risks to individual users and the population as a whole when compared to existing products on the market such as cigarettes. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act of 2009 gives the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) broad authority to regulate tobacco products; the FDA's power extends to approving or rejecting MRTP applications.
Juul Labs, Inc. is an American electronic cigarette company that spun off from Pax Labs in 2017. The Juul electronic cigarette atomizes nicotine salts derived from tobacco supplied by one-time use cartridges.
Ploom is a brand of tobacco heating devices that integrates aspects of both traditional and electronic cigarettes. The device employs a technology that heats tobacco without combustion. It is marketed by Japan Tobacco Inc. (JTI).
A heated tobacco product (HTP) is a tobacco product that heats the tobacco at a lower temperature than conventional cigarettes. These products contain nicotine, which is a highly addictive chemical. The heat generates an aerosol or smoke to be inhaled from the tobacco, which contains nicotine and other chemicals. HTPs may also contain additives not found in tobacco, including flavoring chemicals. HTPs generally heat tobacco to temperatures under 600 °C (1100 °F), a lower temperature than conventional cigarettes.
United States v. Philip Morris USA, Inc. was a case in which the United States District Court for the District of Columbia held several major tobacco companies liable for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act by engaging in numerous acts of fraud to further a conspiracy to deceive the American public about nicotine addiction and the health effects of cigarettes and environmental tobacco smoke.
Electronic cigarettes are marketed to smoking and non-smoking men, women, and children as being safer than cigarettes. In the 2010s, large tobacco businesses accelerated their marketing spending on vape products, similar to the strategies traditional cigarette companies used in the 1950s and 1960s.
Veev is a brand of electronic cigarettes manufactured by Philip Morris International (PMI).
↑ van Amsterdam, Jan; Sleijffers, Annemarie; van Spiegel, Paul; Blom, Roos; Witte, Maarten; van de Kassteele, Jan; Blokland, Marco; Steerenberg, Peter; Opperhuizen, Antoon (December 2011). "Effect of ammonia in cigarette tobacco on nicotine absorption in human smokers". Food and Chemical Toxicology. 49 (12): 3025–3030. doi:10.1016/j.fct.2011.09.037. ISSN1873-6351. PMID22001171.
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US$21.111 billion (2021) [1] 
US$39.523 billion (2021) [1] 
