E-cigarette maker Juul boosts lobbying spending as regulatory scrutiny increases
Leading e-cigarette manufacturer Juul spent half a million dollars on lobbying last quarter — up 167 percent from the previous quarter — as regulators weigh restrictions on the industry to stem a surge in teens using the devices.
In the third quarter, Juul spent $560,000, according to a lobbying disclosure form. That compares with the $210,000 it spent in the previous quarter, according to a filing. The company focused its efforts on e-cigarette and vaping regulation, as well as tariffs on products manufactured in China, it said in the disclosure.
However, the $560,000 is half of the amount the company initially reported spending Tuesday. The company filed an amendment correcting the figure, Juul spokeswoman Victoria Davis told CNBC.
Juul has beefed up its Washington operations amid growing scrutiny that could threaten its business. It has hired Tevi Troy, deputy Health and Human Services secretary in the George W. Bush administration; Jim Esquea, an assistant HHS secretary in the Obama administration; and Ted McCann, a senior policy advisor to House Speaker Paul Ryan, among others.
Also at The Hill.
See also: Juul e-cigarettes pose addiction risk for young users
JUUL's social media campaign resonates alarmingly with teens
Weed Vaping Startup Pax Raises $20 Million
Juul Season is Over
Previously: E-Cig Maker Juul Valued at $15-16 Billion
FDA Raided E-Cigarette Maker Juul to Look for Evidence That the Company Targets Minors
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E-cig startup Juul plans to go global by raising $1.2 billion
"Juuling" might be a thing around the world in the future, because the e-cig-maker has big plans to go global. According to Bloomberg, Juul is raising $1.2 billion in a financing round, which would put the startup's value at a whopping $15 or $16 billion. If you need something to compare that to, Lyft recently reached a $15 billion valuation after raising $600 million. The publication says the company is hoping to use the money it raises from investors to make its USB vape pens available outside the US and Israel. Currently, if you want to buy its trendy pens and nicotine pods outside those two countries, you'd have to find resellers.
Does this story make you want to sell drugs flavored water to children?
Related: Tobacco Roundup (U.S. to Crack Down on Tobacco, Electronic Cigarettes)
F.D.A. Seizes Documents From Juul Headquarters
The Food and Drug Administration conducted a surprise inspection of the headquarters of the e-cigarette maker Juul Labs last Friday, carting away more than a thousand documents it said were related to the company's sales and marketing practices.
The move, announced on Tuesday, was seen as an attempt to ratchet up pressure on the company, which controls 72 percent of the e-cigarette market in the United States and whose products have become popular in high schools. The F.D.A. said it was particularly interested in whether Juul deliberately targeted minors as consumers.
"The new and highly disturbing data we have on youth use demonstrates plainly that e-cigarettes are creating an epidemic of regular nicotine use among teens," the F.D.A. said in a statement. "It is vital that we take action to understand and address the particular appeal of, and ease of access to, these products among kids."
Previously: Tobacco Roundup (U.S. to Crack Down on Tobacco, Electronic Cigarettes)
E-Cig Maker Juul Valued at $15-16 Billion
Altria board approves $13 billion investment in e-cigarette company Juul
Altria's board of directors has approved its $12.8 billion investment in leading e-cigarette manufacturer Juul, with a formal announcement planned for Thursday before market open, people familiar with the matter told CNBC. Juul's board is meeting to consider the deal.
Tobacco giant Altria will invest $12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in Juul, which values the e-cigarette company at $38 billion, the people said. The deal combines the maker of the best-selling cigarette with the best-selling e-cigarette and comes as both companies are under pressure.
The deal marks a turning point for Juul. The company has positioned itself as anti-tobacco, with a mission to help to wean adults off combustible cigarettes, which are responsible for killing about half a million Americans every year. With this deal, though, it will be partly owned by one of the world's biggest tobacco giants.
As such, Juul stipulated a number of conditions to help ensure the Altria deal furthers its goals. As part of the agreement, Altria would add Juul coupons to Marlboro and other cigarette packs and give Juul some of its prime shelf space, the people familiar said.
Also at NYT, Reuters, and The Verge.
See also: Marlboro maker Altria nears deal to take 35 percent stake in leading e-cigarette company Juul, sources say
$1.3 million: the average bonus Juul employees get after a deal with a cigarette maker
[$38 billion] makes Juul Labs Inc. more valuable than Airbnb and Elon Musk's SpaceX, according to Bloomberg News.
Previously: E-Cig Maker Juul Valued at $15-16 Billion
FDA Raided E-Cigarette Maker Juul to Look for Evidence That the Company Targets Minors
Juul Boosts Lobbying Spending as Potential E-Cigarette Regulations Loom
Marlboro Owner Invests $1.8 Billion in Cannabis Company
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Thursday October 25 2018, @10:09AM (1 child)
ther-brother-from-another-mother-Jackson
Or some such...I dunno American money well.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @10:14AM
You can put it in your pipe and smoke it... wait a second...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @02:00PM (1 child)
This sounds like bribery to me. Legal bribery.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Thursday October 25 2018, @08:39PM
Yup. You guys have the best government money can buy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @03:08PM
Florida is insane. Look at these two completely unrelated things joined together in a ballot question:
1. prohibit offshore oil drilling
2. prohibit vaping in indoor workplaces
That first part is horrible. (shall we prohibit farming and factories too?) The second part is a silly thing to put in the state constitution, and anyway it is standard workplace policy to ban vaping.
(Score: 3, Informative) by ElizabethGreene on Thursday October 25 2018, @03:11PM (2 children)
I have a son in high school and a daughter in middle school in non-rural middle Tennessee. Vapes, particularly the Juul, are ubiquitous in their schools. A double digit percentage of students have them. The kids like them because they look like a USB stick so you are less likely to get caught with it.
What worries me is that the long term health effects of vaping in young adults is not known. There is a very real chance we're creating a ticking time-bomb epidemic of lung cancer.
It's a problem.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:18PM
The long term health effects of pretty much everything are unknown. Most of the time when such data is actually collected it points to the exact opposite of what medical researchers have been saying for decades. Eg, http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/business/biotech/sd-me-salt-diet-20170425-story.html [sandiegouniontribune.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @10:23PM
It's actually not a problem since we're talking about millennials. Since they're incapable of fending for themselves, the fewer there are left when their parents die the less misery there will be in the world.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25 2018, @06:58PM
Damn things are dangerous [businessinsider.com]!
Interesting quote: "While it is certainly rare for an e-cigarette to cause a fire on an airplane, it is not out of the ordinary for an accident like this to occur."
Rare, but perfectly normal.
I like thins one:
Those responsible have been sacked [scmp.com]