Philip Morris International
Philip Morris International Inc. is a tobacco company, with products sold in over 180 countries. Marlboro is PMI’s most recognized brand, but in the last quarter of 2023, Iqos generated the greatest revenue. Philip Morris International is often referred to as one of the companies comprising Big Tobacco. The company ranked No. 121 in the 2025 Fortune 500 list of the largest US corporations by total revenue.
The company originated in 1847 in London, but Philip Morris International itself was established in 1987 as an operating company of Philip Morris Companies Inc. In 2003, Philip Morris Companies changed its name to Altria Group. In March 2008, PMI was spun off from Altria and has been an entirely separate entity since then. Philip Morris USA, a subsidiary of PMI's former parent, keeps ownership of the Philip Morris brands for the US market.
The company's legal seat is in Stamford, Connecticut. PMI's operational headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland.
With tobacco being addictive and a leading cause of preventable death globally, the company has faced litigation and regulatory measures from governments and has been the subject of scrutiny by the World Health Organization. The company knowingly maintained the claim that smoking cigarettes is harmless, despite overwhelming external and internal evidence that smoking is addictive and dangerous. In response, the company has diversified in the 21st century into smoke-free products such as the Iqos brand of heated tobacco products, Zyn brand of nicotine pouches, and Veev brand of electronic cigarettes.
History
Early years
The company history began in 1847 with the opening of a single shop on London's Bond Street by a local tobacconist, Philip Morris. The shop gained popularity after the Crimean War, where Turkish tobacco became popular among returning soldiers who started preferring cigarettes over pipe tobacco and cigars. Morris hired more employees to hand-roll them. After Morris died in 1873, his widow Margaret and brother Leopold ran the business. Leopold became the sole owner in 1880 and formed a partnership with Joseph Grunebaum, leading to the incorporation of Philip Morris & Company and Grunebaum, Ltd. in 1881. The company became Philip Morris & Co., Ltd. in 1885 when the partnership dissolved. Highly indebted, it was bought by one of its creditors, William Curtis Thomson, in 1894.In 1902, King Edward, a long-time customer of the shop, appointed Philip Morris as royal tobacconist, boosting business. That same year, the company was incorporated in the United States by Gustav Eckmeyer, who had been its sole importer and distributor in the New World since 1872. Ownership was shared between Eckmeyer and the parent company, and the venture began selling its first domestic brands along with its traditional luxury imports, including Marlborough, named after one of the London manufactories located on Marlborough street.
In 1919, the American subsidiary was bought by investor Georges Whelan and incorporated in Virginia under the name of Philip Morris & Co., Ltd. Inc. Marlborough dropped the letters u ''g h'' in 1924 and was relaunched as a premium cigarette for the growing US female market. With Turkish tobacco falling out of fashion and its brands sitting firmly in the luxury and premium segments, total sales account for as little as 0.5% of the total cigarette market in 1925.
In the early 1950's, growing concerns about the health effects of cigarettes led most manufacturers to add filters: by the end of 1954, filtered brands accounted for more than 10 percent of sales volumes. To enter this market, Philip Morris' executives first decided to purchase Benson & Hedges in 1954, which had pioneered the market with its Parliament brand. However, the brand lost nearly 10% of its market share under the new management. The company then decided a brand repositioning for Marlboro, a premium yet stagnant brand from its portfolio. George Weissman, the new vice-president for marketing and new products, signed up Leo Burnett to the task. The agency's challenge was to appeal to male smokers concerned enough about their health to consider switching to filter cigarettes. The logo and packaging were redesigned and the marketing was supported by a series of Marlboro Men. The campaign was a success: within a year of its national roll-out, volumes increased 3,000%, swiftly becoming the fourth best-selling cigarette brand.
Becoming an international giant
Increasing sales fueled the company's expansion: in 1954, Philip Morris Australia became the first international affiliate of the company. Then, in 1957, the Swiss Fabriques de Tabac Réunies in Neuchatel became the first to acquire foreign licensing rights to produce the booming Marlboro, marking the company's first move into Europe since leaving Britain. The Swiss company was eventually purchased in 1963. The overseas division was renamed Philip Morris International in 1961, alongside Philip Morris Domestic and Philip Morris Industrial.The company underwent rapid expansion abroad in the 1960s. By 1965, Philip Morris products were available in 140 countries and territories. Domestically, Marlboro became the leading brand in the United States by 1972. During the mid-60s the company began to form a horizontal conglomerate, gradually purchasing various entities such as Miller brewing, Seven-Up, Kraft Foods and many others. The company also pursued a series of international partnerships with local monopolies, allowing its products to reach consumers in more than 170 countries and territories by 1980.
In 1987, Philip Morris International was incorporated in Virginia as an operating company of Philip Morris, Inc. The fall of the USSR in the early 1990s provided another expansion opportunity, and Philip Morris International was among the first US companies to operate in the former Communist bloc. In 1990, two years before actually opening an office in the country, PMI accepted an oil-for-cigarettes deal with the failing Soviet state to help deal with cigarette shortages. In 1994, Philip Morris International established the Philip Morris Ukraine subsidiary and acquired a 51% stake in a tobacco manufacturing facility in Kharkiv which was soon upgraded. PMI was also one of the first US entrants in the Vietnamese market, opening a manufacturing plant a few months before the two countries normalized their relations. Later, in 2005, PMI also acquired Coltabaco in Colombia and Sampoerna in Indonesia.
PMI as an independent entity
On January 27, 2003, Philip Morris Companies Inc. changed its name to Altria. The conglomerate then gradually changed its strategy, selling off large portions of its non-tobacco consumer products holdings. Kraft Foods Inc. was spun off in March 2007, with the company's 88.1% stake being distributed to Altria shareholders. That same year, Altria began the process of spinning off Philip Morris International to allow it to pursue growth opportunities abroad without the legal uncertainties stemming from its US arm. PMI's spinoff from Altria took effect in March 2008. Altria shareholders were given shares in PMI, which was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and other stock exchanges. Louis Camilleri, who had been Altria's CEO, became PMI's new Chief Executive.Although PMI remains incorporated in the US, it has never sold combustible cigarettes there. Its operational center has been in Lausanne, Switzerland, since 2002. In 2009, Philip Morris International opened its research and development center in Neuchatel, Switzerland. The opening of this R&D center marked a significant milestone for Philip Morris International in the development of new smoke-free products. The company launched Iqos in 2014, a heated tobacco product with reduced emissions. In 2023, Iqos and other smoke-free products made up nearly 40% of PMI's global sales, with Iqos alone surpassing the net revenue generated by Marlboro.
In 2022, PMI also agreed to a $16 billion deal to acquire Swedish Match, boosting its position in cigarette alternatives with the Zyn nicotine pouch brand.
Products
Brands
Philip Morris International has several multibillion-dollar brands. The top five brands of combustible products accounted for 80% of the total cigarette shipments volume in 2024. According to its 2024 annual report, the company had sold almost 617 million cigarettes, along with 140 million heated tobacco units and 1 billion cans of oral tobacco :- Marlboro was launched in 1924 and is the world’s best-selling cigarette brand, ranking first among the most valuable tobacco brands.
- Iqos heated tobacco products were launched in 2014. Iqos is PMI’s flagship smoke-free product and surpassed Marlboro net revenue at the end of 2023.
- L&M was launched by Liggett & Myers in 1953. In 1999, the L&M trademark was acquired by Philip Morris Companies Inc, but the rights have been split per country by Philip Morris USA and PMI since the spin-off in 2008.
- Chesterfield was first launched in 1873 by the Drummond Tobacco company of Saint Louis, Missouri, and became the first major brand to enter the king-size market in 1952.
- Parliament was launched in 1931 and was the first major brand to introduce a filter mouthpiece.
- Philip Morris's eponymous brand gave fame to bellhop Johnny Roventini and his "Call for Philip Morris".
- Zyn, launched in 2016, is the leading brand of nicotine pouches, accounting for more than 60% of the US market in 2022.
- The company also distributes a number of local or historical brands, such as Apollo–Soyuz, Muratti, Virginia Slims, etc..
Research