Tiger global management, a private equity firm, has halved its valuation of Juul labs Inc, the maker of e-cigarettes, to $19 billion.
The write down occurred at the end of September, the report quoted people familiar with the matter as saying.
Altria Group Inc., the world’s largest tobacco company, owns 35% of Juul. Altria’s investment in Juul in October was written down by $4.5 billion, and its valuation fell by more than a third to about $24 billion.
Neither tiger global nor Juul immediately commented.
Juul has been in controversy recently, and the company has been accused of contributing to the popularity of e-cigarettes among teenagers. In addition, a mysterious lung disease related to e-cigarettes recently broke out in the United States, and consumers began to question the safety of e-cigarettes.
Juul is currently being sued in several States, including New York. Trump’s senior advisor also said that the ban on flavored e-cigarettes would be introduced soon.
