Altria’s $13B Juul investment has lost 95% of its value

By MATTHEW PERRONE
AP Health Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — Altria reports its nearly $13 billion investment in troubled vaping company Juul is worth 95% less than it originally paid. The tobacco giant on Thursday said its stake in the e-cigarette maker is now worth less than $500 million after U.S. regulators announced plans to ban Juul’s vaping devices. Richmond, Virginia-based Altria is Juul’s largest investor with a 35% ownership stake. Company executives signed the pact in 2018, betting that Juul’s vaping devices represented a lucrative new opportunity in the vaping market. But last month the Food and Drug Administration said it would ban the small vaping devices because Juul had failed to provide key information about potentially harmful chemicals in its nicotine formula.