Big Tobacco is still... big tobacco. This week British American Tobacco reported its latest financial results, painting a rosy picture for investors with a forecast to grow its revenue by 5% this year.
Wait... tobacco is still growing?
The cigarette industry may feel a bit like its been close to being extinguished ever since the health concerns about smoking became common knowledge in the 1960s — but somehow the industry has survived, and even thrived.
BAT, for example, reported sales of £25.8bn last year ($36bn). For context, that's more than Tesla ($31bn), adidas ($24bn) and Netflix ($25bn). The tobacco industry as a whole is expected to grow to more than $260bn a year by 2027, according to some estimates.
Although big tobacco giants remain predominantly reliant on good old fashioned cigarette sticks, they all have various bets on potential new technologies that are healthier or less toxic than traditional ciggies. BAT itself now boasts more than 13 million consumers for its "non-combustible" products, which includes vaping. The company is hoping to hit 50 million by the end of the decade. Big tobacco is not dead, far from it in fact.
