Highlights
In 2008, Federal Trade Commission approved Kraft Foods’ sale of Post Cereals to Ralcorp Holdings for $1.7 billion.
In 2007, Altria Group and Philip Morris USA reaffirmed their support for federal regulation of tobacco products. The same year, Philip Morris USA launches a new advertising campaign featuring QuitAssist, a 48-page guide that provides information to smokers who want to quit.
In 2006, Philip Morris acquires 96.65 percent of Coltabaco, the largest tobacco company in Colombia.
Philip Morris may have changed its name in 2003 to Altria to highlight the fact that it’s more than a cigarette maker, but the company still gets more than 75 percent of its sales from domestic and international tobacco operations. The group serves as an umbrella organization for Philip Morris USA, Philip Morris International, and Philip Morris Capital. Its tobacco empire includes the Marlboro, Virginia Slims, Parliament, Chesterfield, and Basic cigarette brands. It is in the process of buying U.S. cigar maker John Middleton. Additionally, Altria owns a 29 percent stake in SABMiller plc, the second-largest brewer in the world and maker of such brands as Miller Lite, Pilsner Urquell, and Peroni.
The company completed its long-awaited spin-off of Kraft Foods in 2007. Kraft’s major brands include Kraft, Maxwell House, Oscar Mayer, Nabisco, Philadelphia, Jacobs, and Post Cereals, to name (more than) a few. The split between tobacco and food operations was conceived in 2001, as tobacco litigation was reaching a peak: the rationale was to shield food operations from the drag of the litigation. Domestic suits against all tobacco makers currently stand at nearly $250 billion in penalties. In a June 2003 lawsuit in Illinois, a judge ordered Philip Morris to pay $10 billion in damages and post a $12 billion bond. The company appealed the verdict and the bond was lowered. This scenario has been repeated time and again in the tobacco industry, and Altria’s phalanx of legal counselors has kept juries from bankrupting the company.