Second time's a charm... Altria and Philip Morris International both sell Marlboro cigarettes. Altria's got dibs on the US market and Philip covers the rest of the world. They used to be the same company, then they split, now they confirmed they're trying to merge again. Here's the relationship timeline.
- 1998: The tobacco companies settled with 46 states plus DC for $246B for the health damages they helped create. That's. A lot. Of money.
- 2008: Fearing another lawsuit, Altria split off Philip and gave it a foreign passport — that shielded PMI from American lawsuits and anti-smoking legislation.
- Now: With tobacco sales declining globally (except some developing markets) the two want to move back in to save money. Picture that couple paying $2K each for studios in TriBeCa. Shares fell for both companies on the uninspiring news that it's just a practical move.
Tobacco's not even worth suing anymore... Health worries had already crushed cigarette growth — now existing smokers are gravitating toward e-cigs and cannabis.
- Altria's sales are 35% lower than ten years ago.
- PMI's have dropped 10% over the same decade.
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