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| Top US e-cigarette manufacturer Juul is replacing its CEO and suspending all lobying and advertising amid a backlash against its products (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck) |
Washington (AFP) - Crisis-stricken e-cigarette maker Juul announced a corporate shakeup on Wednesday, swapping out its CEO for a tobacco industry veteran as the US legal environment rapidly darkened for the company's main products.
The company
is also suspending all advertising and government lobbying as it responds to a
mounting public backlash over the risks of vaping.
At the same
time, a potential $200 billion merger between Altria, a major Juul stakeholder,
and Philip Morris International collapsed, with the two companies saying
Wednesday that efforts to reach a deal had failed.
The
transition to e-cigarettes and other devices offered a ray of hope to old-guard
tobacco merchants facing a long sales decline and falling smoking rates.
But, with
at least nine dead and hundreds sickened from causes potentially tied to some
vaping products, and soaring use among teenagers, the regulatory landscape for
e-cigarettes has deteriorated this year.
State and
federal authorities have brought litigation and reportedly at least one
criminal investigation. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump's administration is
considering an outright ban on flavored vaping products, which authorities say
target teen users.
PM
increasingly uneasy
Kevin
Burns, co-founder of the San Francisco-based Juul, which had seen a meteoric
rise in recent years, will be replaced by KC Crosthwaite, himself a top Altria
executive.
In a
statement, Crosthwaite said he envisioned a future in line with Juul's founding
mission to allow adult smokers to choose alternatives to smoking tobacco.
"Unfortunately,
today that future is at risk due to unacceptable levels of youth usage and
eroding public confidence in our industry," he said.
Under
Burns, Juul expanded to 20 countries, forging a global business out of a
start-up, the company said.
Juul says
it has stopped store sales of products with flavors other than tobacco and
menthol, ended promotions on Facebook and Instagram and enhanced online age
verification while pushing for stronger rules to keep its products out of
children's hands.
A month
ago, Altria and Philip Morris International announced merger talks, potentially
allowing the two companies to diversify into the shifting consumer market.
But on
Wednesday the two companies said efforts to reach an agreement to forge a $200
billion combined entity had failed.
"While
we believed the creation of a new merged company had the potential to create
incremental revenue and cost synergies, we could not reach agreement,"
Altria Chairman Howard Willard said in a statement.
As clouds
gathered on the horizon for Juul, the Philip Morris board became increasingly
uneasy about the merger with Altria, The Wall Street Journal reported
Wednesday, citing an unnamed person familiar with the matter.
Altria
purchased a $12.8 billion stake in Juul last year.
Meanwhile,
Philip Morris International said it would focus on the roll-out of its IQOS
device, which heats and does not burn tobacco.
IQOS has been
received "premarket authorization" from the US Food and Drug
Administration following a "rigorous science-based review" by the
agency, according to Philip Morris.
"IQOS
is not an e-vapor product," Philip Morris said.
On Wall
Street, shares in Altria were little changed but Philip Morris had surged
nearly 5.9 percent around 1400 GMT.
You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.
In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?
Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.
What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”
Related Articles:
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
“… The Shift in Human Nature
You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.
In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?
Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.
What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. ...”
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