Word: rjr
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...again. It was an especially bad time for smokers. They woke up on Monday morning to the news that tobacco companies plan to stick them with the bill for their multi-billion dollar lawsuit settlement, costing an extra 62 cents a pack. By Friday, CEOs from Philip Morris and RJR Nabisco were tentatively admitting that their cigarettes could have ? whisper it low ? actually killed people...
...memo to employees only hours after the deal was sealed, Steven Goldstone, CEO of RJR Nabisco, wrote that the historic agreement "radically changes the way we do business." No kidding. The tobacco industry in the U.S. will have to adjust from being a cash-rich, freewheeling marketer to one of the most regulated businesses in the U.S.; from an industry that can't advertise enough to one that can barely show its face. And to pay for the agreement, tobacco executives are going to install one of the biggest price increases in the history of consumer products: possibly more than...
...what investors seem to think. Tobacco stocks fell Friday, the day of the deal. But it was mere profit taking after a two-week run-up in which shares of Philip Morris, the No. 1 tobacco company, jumped 9%, reaching a new high on Thursday, while No. 2 RJR rose 14%. Tobacco stocks have sold at a discount, compared with other packaged-goods company shares, because of the legal uncertainties. Many analysts expect the stocks to keep on chugging once Wall Street can reliably calculate the settlement costs. "As uncertainty is removed, the stocks move up," says Roy Burry, tobacco...
...settlement promises to speed up what was happening anyway. Cigarette consumption in the U.S. has been declining for years, but on mostly unregulated foreign shores business is brisk. American cigarette sales internationally are rising 3% to 5% a year, and companies such as RJR are grabbing half their revenues there already. There's nothing to suggest that will change soon...
...number of smokers declines in the U.S., however, look for a market-share duel to the death. When cigarette advertising on TV and radio was barred in the early 1970s, RJR's Winston was the household name in cigarettes. Philip Morris adapted better to print, though, and boosted its Marlboro brand to prominence. RJR needs to regain some ground, but it won't be easy. "We'll all be jockeying for position in Playboy and Penthouse," an RJR insider quips. Adult magazines are among the few places the tobacco companies would continue to advertise...