After Altria deal, Juul employees to get $2B bonus
Altria-Juul deal near: Altria is close to a deal to take a 35 percent stake in Juul
FBN's Lauren Simonetti on tobacco-maker Altria is near a deal to take a 35 percent in e-cigarette maker Juul.
Juul employees are getting a $2 billion bonus from Altria, after the Marlboro cigarette-maker struck a deal on Thursday to pay $12.8 billion for a 35 percent stake in the company, a person close to the matter confirmed.
The bonus is being paid out as a special dividend that’s part of the deal, according to CNBC, which first reported the news.
About 1,500 people are employed at the e-cig company. If that money is evenly divided, it would amount to about $1.3 million per person.
Juul -- which received the lump sum payout as part of the deal, but will share it with the staff -- will determine who gets what based on factors like how long they’ve worked at the company and how much stock they own, the source said.
The deal valued Juul, which is only three years old, at a whopping $38 billion -- double what it was valued at following a funding round in the summer. Part of the agreement also included assurances by Juul that it would "accelerate its mission" to convert adult smokers, according to a news release from the companies.
Those proceeds will then be used to return capital to employees and shareholders and ultimately create a $1 billion balance sheet intended to speed-up product development and market access.