Altria, Owner of Philip Morris, Cuts the Value of Its Juul Stake by $4.5 Billion

The tobacco giant Altria Group said Thursday that it had written down its investment in the vaping company Juul Labs by $4.5 billion, a move that reflects the deepening turmoil in the e-cigarette industry.

Altria, which is one of the world’s largest tobacco companies, invested $12.8 billion in Juul in December 2018, acquiring a 35 percent stake in the start-up.

The company pointed to recent bans on vaping across the United States and the “increased likelihood” that the Food and Drug Administration would “remove flavored e-vapor products from the market.”

Juul, which has argued that e-cigarettes would save lives by helping people stop smoking, has come under intense scrutiny in recent months.

Juul is now facing multiple state and federal investigations.

The e-cigarette maker announced this month that it would suspend online sales of flavored products, though that does not include menthol or mint flavored pods. The Trump administration has said it plans to ban the sale of most flavored e-cigarettes.

In September, Juul replaced its chief executive with an Altria executive, K.C. Crosthwaite, who has sought to contain the damage. Mr. Crosthwaite has suspended Juul’s advertising and withdrawn its support for a San Francisco ballot measure that aimed to reverse the city’s ban on e-cigarette sales.

On Tuesday, a former top executive at Juul filed a lawsuit contending the company knowingly sold at least a million tainted nicotine pods and refused to recall them.

This is a developing story and will be updated.