Altria's Juul investment is in trouble

Illustration:Aïda Amer/Axios

Altria's $12.8 billion investment for a 35% stake in Juul is at risk of becoming one of the worst corporate investments of all time.

The big picture: Sometimes it's darkest before the light, but right now it looks like Altria got smoked.

The latest: Juul keeps getting hit left and right these past few weeks — particularly after the recent spate of vaping-related lung diseases. Juul is also facing a possible Congressional subpoena after failing to provide documents in July.

  • Last week, President Trump proposed banning all flavored vaping pods from the U.S. market, including mint and menthol.
  • Earlier this week, Juul products disappeared from Chinese e-commerce sites JD.com and Alibaba's Tmall, without explanation.
  • Yesterday, India banned e-cigarettes entirely.

Go deeper: The global anti-vaping tipping point

Additional Stories

House Democrats subpoena White House in impeachment inquiry

Mick Mulvaney. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

House committees leading the impeachment inquiry against President Trump subpoenaed acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney on Friday.

The big picture: This comes after nearly a month of White House refusals to comply with House investigations into whether Trump jeopardized national security by pressing Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, and by withholding security assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine, per the subpoena. The committees are demanding documents by Oct. 18.

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Ron Johnson says Sondland told him of possible Ukraine quid pro quo

Sen. Ron Johnson. Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Sen. Ron Johnson (R.-Wis.) told the Wall Street Journal that he learned of a possible quid pro quo between the Trump administration and Ukraine's government from EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland.

The big picture: Johnson said that he pressed President Trump on the issue, which allegedly linked the distribution of $400 million in U.S. military aid with a Ukrainian investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden, in an Aug. 31 phone call. "He said ... 'No way. I would never do that. Who told you that?'" Johnson told the Journal of his conversation with the president.

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