Company type | subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Tobacco |
Founded | 1999 |
Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan Geneva, Switzerland Raleigh, North Carolina |
Key people | Eddy Pirard President and CEO Koji Shimayoshi Deputy CEO and Executive Vice President Business Development and Corporate Strategy |
Products | Cigarettes, vaping products, roll-your-own tobacco, snus, pipe tobacco, cigars, nicotine pouches, heat-not-burn devices [1] |
Owner | Japan Tobacco |
Number of employees | 46,000 (2024) [2] |
Website | www.jti.com |
JTI - Japan Tobacco International is the international tobacco division of Japan Tobacco (Global Fortune 500), [3] 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.
As of 2018, JTI employed around 46,000 people around the world at 400 offices, 27 factories, five research and development centers, and five tobacco-processing facilities. [4]
Eddy Pirard is the president and CEO, and Koji Shimayoshi is the deputy CEO and executive vice president for business development and corporate strategy. [5]
JTI was formed in 1999, when Japan Tobacco Inc. purchased the international tobacco operations of the U.S. multinational R.J. Reynolds for $7.8 billion. Popular brands included Camel, Winston, and Natural American Spirit (2015).
In 2007, Gallaher Group, a FTSE 100 business, was acquired by Japan Tobacco Inc. for GBP 9.4 billion. At the time, this was the largest foreign acquisition by a Japanese company.
In 2009, the JT Group acquired part of the worldwide business of Tribac Leaf Limited (a company that trades tobacco in Africa), as well as two Brazilian companies active in the tobacco business, Kannenberg and KBH&C. In the same year, the JT Group also set up JTI Leaf Services, a joint venture with two leaf suppliers in the US – Hail & Cotton Inc. and JEB International. [6]
In 2022, the company's revenue in Russia amounted to 431 billion rubles. [7] JTI partnered with Altria to sell its successful Ploom product in the U.S. market. In 2024, Japan Tobacco International was named by Top Employers Institute as a top employer in the Philippines for the third year in a row. [8] In the same year, JTI purchased Vector group for 2.4 billion U.S. Dollars. Previously, JTI operated outside of the U.S., but this purchase gave JTI roughly 10% market share and two of the most popular cigarette brands in the U.S. [9]
The three largest Canadian tobacco companies, Imperial Tobacco Canada, JTI-Macdonald Corp, and Rothmans Benson & Hedges, are the subject of the largest class-action lawsuit in Canadian history. The case started 12 March 2012 in Quebec Superior Court, and the companies face a potential payout of C$27 billion (US$20.18 billion) in damages and penalties. In addition, a number of Canadian provinces are teaming up to sue tobacco companies to recover healthcare costs caused by smoking. [10]
On 1 June 2015, Québec Superior Court Justice Brian Riordan awarded more than $15 billion to Quebec smokers in a landmark case that pitted them against three Canadian cigarette giants, including JTI-Macdonald Corp. [11] [12] JTI was ordered to pay 13% of the total, or C$2bn. The company stated, "JTI-Macdonald Corp. fundamentally disagrees with today’s judgment and intends to file an appeal [...] The company strongly believes that the evidence presented at trial does not justify the court’s conclusions." The plaintiffs in the court case stated that even if an appeal were lodged, the companies were required to pay C$1bn within 60 days. [13]
Japan Tobacco International is a silver patron of the University of Latvia Foundation. It has supported the university since 2010 by donating to long-term projects of the University of Latvia Senior Association. [14]
These brands account for 72% of JTI's sales: [15]
JTI also has a portfolio of cigarette brands that the company markets regionally, including Export in Canada.
Altria Group, 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.
British American Tobacco p.l.c. (BAT) is a British multinational company that manufactures and sells cigarettes, tobacco and other nicotine products including electronic cigarettes. The company, established in 1902, is headquartered in London, England. As of 2021, it is the largest tobacco company in the world based on net sales and the third largest seller of vapes in the UK.
The Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is a Japanese diversified tobacco company. It was established in 1985 as a tokushu gaisha that inherited the right to monopolize and manufacture cigarettes from the Japan Tobacco and Salt Public Corporation and required the government to hold at least 50% of its shares. In addition to tobacco, JT diversified its businesses, establishing the pharmaceutical research institute in 1993 and making a full-scale entry into the food and beverage industry in 1998. In 2008, it acquired the food manufacturer Katokichi, now TableMark, as a wholly-owned subsidiary, integrating its food business.
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.
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.
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges Inc. (RBH) is a Canadian manufacturer and distributor of tobacco products. It was formed by the merger of the Canadian units of Rothmans International and the Benson & Hedges brand – owned by Philip Morris International.
Gallaher Group was a United Kingdom-based multinational tobacco company which traded on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, prior to its acquisition by American Tobacco in 1974. In April 2007, it was acquired by Japan Tobacco. Japan Tobacco trades in the United Kingdom as Gallaher Ltd.
Mevius, previously called Mild Seven, is a Japanese brand of cigarettes, currently owned and manufactured by Japan Tobacco.
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.
The Macdonald Tobacco Company, founded in 1858 by William Christopher Macdonald and his brother Augustine, converted tobacco leaf from southern U.S. suppliers to pipe and chewing tobacco in Montreal. After several acquisitions, it is now known as Japan Tobacco International (JTI), which manages flagship brands such as Benson & Hedges, Camel, Glamour, LD, Mevius, Natural American Spirit, Silk Cut, Sobranie, and Winston.
Export is a Canadian brand of cigarettes and rolling tobacco, currently owned and manufactured by JTI Macdonald, a subsidiary of Japan Tobacco International.
LD is an international brand of cigarettes, currently owned by Japan Tobacco. It is manufactured in Turkey by JT International U.S.A. for the United States market.
Tobacco politics refers to the politics surrounding the use and distribution of tobacco, likewise with regulations.
Tobacco has a long cultural, economic, and social impact on the United States. Tobacco cultivation in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1610 led to the expansion of British colonialism in the Southern United States. As the demand for Tobacco grew in Europe, further colonization in British America and Tobacco production saw a parallel increase. Tobacco use became normalized in American society and was heavily consumed before and after American independence.
Imperial Tobacco Canada Limited is a cigarette manufacturing company operating in Canada. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of British American Tobacco. It was created in 1908 and bought out the Canadian interests of the American Tobacco Company, which was a monopoly in the United States until it was reorganized in 1911. Imperial Tobacco Canada has had no relationship to Imperial Tobacco Group plc since 1980, though British American Tobacco was established as a joint venture between Imperial Tobacco Group and American Tobacco. Imasco sold their stake to BAT in 2000.
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.
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.