Deals
Altria Invests $12.8 Billion in E-Cigarette Maker Juul
- Marlboro seller takes 35 percent share in e-cigarette startup
- Altria gets right to appoint one-third of Juul board members
This article is for subscribers only.
Juul Labs Inc. and Altria Group Inc. just did a deal that transforms them both: The e-cigarette maker is now one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable privately held companies, and the tobacco giant is relevant again for cigarette-averse Americans.
The $12.8 billion deal, which gives Altria a 35 percent stake, values San Francisco-based Juul at $38 billion and will put its products next to Marlboro cigarettes on American retail shelves. Altria, which is focused on the U.S. market after spinning off Philip Morris International Inc. in 2008, will get one-third of the seats on Juul’s board upon antitrust clearance. It doesn’t get a controlling stake, leaving Juul operationally independent.