US tobacco company Altria announced Monday that it would pay $2.75 billion in cash to buy e-cigarette maker Njoy, just days after liquidating its stake in Juul.
Altria said Friday that it had traded its 35% stake in Juul, for which it had paid $12.8 billion at the end of 2018, for the right to use some of its technologies in heated tobacco devices.
Aggressive Marketing
Between lawsuits against the aggressive marketing of the start-up, which enjoyed a period of phenomenal success with its vaporizers in the form of USB keys and flavored nicotine refills, and regulatory uncertainties about the future of e-cigarettes in the United States – United, Altria estimates their stake was only worth $250 million at the end.
The tobacco company continues despite everything “believing that the electronic cigarette category in the United States will experience a transition period of several years” while the US health agency, the FDA, determines which products are authorized or not.
He believes that this market will grow slightly over the next ten years and that his business experience will help make Njoy’s products stand out from the competition. The major tobacco companies have been trying for several years to diversify by investing in particular in the e-cigarette segment, which has not yet achieved the expected growth rates.
Source: BFM TV
