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byline: Richard Foster

Juul Labs moving HQ from San Francisco to D.C.

E-cigarette manufacturer Juul Labs Inc. is moving its company headquarters from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., a fact first reported Tuesday by the Wall Street Journal. Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. holds a 35% stake in Juul, which is cutting about 900 jobs from its 3,000-person global workforce, including about 25% of its U.S. employees, as part of the move.

In a statement released Tuesday, Altria Group CEO William F. “Billy” Gifford Jr. said, “Outside looking in, we feel like the overhead had gotten a bit ahead of itself and it’s unfortunate it’s in the middle of this COVID crisis, but we certainly believe the reduction in overhead and that type of spending is a smart move to make.”

Former Altria Chief Growth Officer K.C. Crosthwaite was appointed as CEO of Juul in September 2019, immediately cutting about 650 jobs and reducing Juul’s spending by $1 billion. At the time, the controversial e-cigarette manufacturer was under fire by schools, parents and public health advocates who charged that the company was largely to blame for an epidemic of teen nicotine addiction via Juul’s popular vaping devices and flavored nicotine-infused liquid pods.

Altria invested $12.8 billion in late 2018 to obtain a 35% stake in Juul, but Altria took $8 billion in writedowns on the investment in 2019. Originally valued at $38 billion, Juul saw its valuation by Altria fall to $12 billion in March. Juul saw revenues of $2 billion and losses of about $1 billion in 2019.

The Federal Trade Commission filed an antitrust complaint against the two companies last month, on April 1, alleging that Altria and Juul cut a secret deal in fall 2018 that Altria would exit the vaping market. Altria said publicly it was no longer manufacturing its own e-cigarette products due to public health concerns about teens vaping. The companies are also facing a class-action lawsuit filed on April 7 by a Juul customer in California, alleging that the companies have overcharged customers as a result of the deal outlined in the antitrust complaint.

“For several years, Altria and JUUL were competitors in the market for closed-system e-cigarettes. By the end of 2018, Altria orchestrated its exit from the e-cigarette market and became JUUL’s largest investor,” said Ian Conner, the FTC’s director of the Bureau of Competition, in a statement. “Altria and JUUL turned from competitors to collaborators by eliminating competition and sharing in JUUL’s profits.”

One of the world’s largest manufacturers of cigarettes and tobacco products, Altria also holds equity stakes in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV and Cronos Group Inc., a Canadian cannabis company.

 

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Confirmed Va. coronavirus cases exceed 19,000

Virginia saw 717 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the total Tuesday to 19,357 confirmed cases, according to the Virginia Department of Health. More than 2,750 Virginians are hospitalized from the disease and 690 are confirmed dead from COVID-19.

The totals do not include 899 probable cases and 23 probable deaths from the coronavirus.

Almost 59% of the 690 deaths occurred in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes.

These are the localities with 400 or more cases in the commonwealth, as of May 5:

  • Fairfax County: 4,834
  • Prince William County: 2,223
  • Arlington County: 1,169
  • Loudoun County: 998
  • Henrico County: 985
  • Alexandria: 983
  • Chesterfield County: 646
  • Harrisonburg: 525
  • Virginia Beach: 445
  • Richmond: 438
  • Accomack County: 429

Globally, there are 3.6 million reported COVID-19 cases and 252,102 confirmed deaths, as of May 5. In the United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, there are 1.18 million confirmed cases and 68,934 deaths attributed to the coronavirus. More than 19,000 people are confirmed dead from COVID-19 in New York City alone.

Below is the latest data from VDH:

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COVID-19 continues spread in Va.

The prevalence of COVID-19 continues to spread in Virginia, with 18,640 confirmed cases as of Monday, according to the Virginia Department of Health. Nearly 2,700 Virginians are hospitalized with the coronavirus and 662 are confirmed dead from COVID-19 in the commonwealth.

Virginia saw an increase of 767 cases on Monday, 894 cases on Sunday and 870 cases on Saturday. The numbers do not include 852 probable cases and 22 probable deaths from the coronavirus.

Nearly 58% of the 662 deaths occurred in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes.

These are the localities with 400 or more cases in the commonwealth, as of May 4:

  • Fairfax County: 4,615
  • Prince William County: 2,146
  • Arlington County: 1,139
  • Henrico County: 964
  • Loudoun County: 961
  • Alexandria: 940
  • Chesterfield County: 601
  • Harrisonburg: 497
  • Virginia Beach: 439
  • Accomack County: 425
  • Richmond: 419

Globally, there are 3.52 million reported COVID-19 cases and 247,971 deaths, as of May 4. In the United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, there are 1.15 million confirmed cases and 67,686 deaths attributed to the coronavirus. Nearly 19,000 people are confirmed dead from COVID-19 in New York City alone.

Below is the latest data from VDH:

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FEMA sending three decontamination systems to Virginia

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved sending Virginia three decontamination systems that can collectively sterilize up to 240,000 units of personal protective equipment (PPE) per day for reuse, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced Saturday.

The Battelle Critical Care Decontamination Systems, which will be operational within the next week, will be stationed at the Marching Virginians Center on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg; a warehouse in Newport News; and at the Vietnam Veterans Pavilion at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds.

Federally funded through FEMA and the Defense Logistics Agency, the systems are being provided to the state government at no cost for the first six months. Health care providers will not be charged for decontamination services. The systems are manufactured by Columbus, Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute, a nonprofit applied science and technology development company.

A Battelle decontamination system that was put into operation in Washington, D.C., last week is already being used by health care systems in Northern Virginia, Maryland and D.C. The system in Blacksburg will support Virginia and West Virginia and will be jointly operated by the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the West Virginia Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The Battelle system employs a concentrated hydrogen peroxide vapor to decontaminate N95 masks, allowing the masks to be sterilized and reused up to 20 times without degraded performance.

“An ongoing, stable supply of PPE is key to moving Virginia forward from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Northam said in a statement. “This innovative new technology will extend the life of critical PPE like N95 masks, giving our medical facilities and first responders greater access to much-needed supplies and helping the commonwealth manage our resources amid a nationwide shortage.”

 

 

 

 

Va. has nearly 18,000 COVID-19 cases

UPDATED MAY 3, 9 A.M.

Over the weekend, Virginia’s confirmed COVID-19 cases increased to 17,873 cases on Sunday, up from from 16,109 cases on Friday, according to the Virginia Department of Health. There are now 644 Virginians confirmed dead from the coronavirus and 2,613 people are hospitalized from COVID-19 in the commonwealth.

About 56% of the 644 deaths occurred in long-term care facilities such as nursing homes.

There were 870 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Virginia on Saturday and 894 new confirmed cases on Sunday. These numbers do not include 798 probable COVID-19 cases that have been identified and 16 probable deaths from the disease. More than 107,200 people have been tested for the coronavirus in Virginia.

Fairfax County, the locality with the most coronavirus cases, surpassed the 4,000 mark Saturday, and the locality with the second-highest number of cases, Prince William County, now has more than 2,000 cases.

These are the localities with 400 or more cases in the commonwealth, as of May 3:

  • Fairfax County: 4,340
  • Prince William County: 2,026
  • Arlington County: 1,106
  • Henrico County: 954
  • Loudoun County: 931
  • Alexandria: 802
  • Chesterfield County: 601
  • Harrisonburg: 478
  • Virginia Beach: 413
  • Richmond: 403
  • Accomack County: 400

Globally, there are 3.36 million reported COVID-19 cases and 239,236 deaths, as of May 3. In the United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, there are 1.1 million confirmed cases and 65,069 deaths attributed to the coronavirus. Nearly 18,400 people are confirmed dead from COVID-19 in New York City alone.

Below is the latest data from VDH:

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Virginia Business wins four VPA awards

Virginia Business magazine won four awards in the Virginia Press Association’s annual journalism contest.

This year’s VPA awards banquet was canceled due to the coronavirus and the association asked member publications to announce the winners on April 30. Virginia Business competes in VPA’s specialty publications division.

Freelance photographer Mark Rhodes won a first-place in the feature photo category for his photo of Suffolk restaurateur and arts advocate Ed Beardsley that ran in the 100 people to meet in 2020 feature in the December 2019 issue of Virginia Business.

Virginia Business Editor Richard Foster won a second-place award for column writing for his InsideView column, including this September 2019 column about the gun control debate in Virginia.

Former Virginia Business Editor Robert Powell won a second-place award for headline writing and former Virginia Business Art Director Adrienne Reaves received a third-place award for design and presentation.

Three Virginia Business staff members also won awards for work they did for other publications prior to joining Virginia Business. Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews won a second-place group award for arts writing for Style Weekly magazine and a third-place award for business and financial writing for Richmond magazine. Virginia Business Art Director Joel Smith won 13 first-, second- and third-place awards in VPA’s annual advertising contest for work he did for Style Weekly. He and Virginia Business Vice President of Sales and Marketing Lori Waran shared a first-place award for digital advertising work for Style Weekly.

 

 

Followups: Altria CEO retires

Altria Group Inc. Chairman and CEO Howard Willard, who took a medical leave of absence in March after testing positive for COVID-19, retired from heading the Henrico County-based Fortune 500 tobacco company on April 14.

Altria’s board of directors elected former Philip Morris USA President and CEO William F. “Billy” Gifford Jr. to serve as CEO. Altria’s former vice chairman and chief financial officer, Gifford had served as acting CEO in Willard’s absence. The board also separated the positions of chairman and CEO, electing Dominion Energy Chairman, President and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II as the Altria board’s chairman. Salvatore Mancuso will succeed Gifford as Altria’s executive vice president and CFO.

VirginiaBusiness.com reported on Willard’s condition on March 20.

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Charting growth

As the Virginia Chamber of Commerce marks its 25th year of celebrating the commonwealth’s 50 fastest-growing companies, this unfortunately will be the first year that Virginia’s Fantastic 50 award winners haven’t been recognized with an in-person event.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s Fantastic 50 awards banquet, which had been scheduled for April 30, was canceled. 

However, in cooperation with the chamber, Virginia Business is continuing to publish the annual list of the award-winning Fantastic 50 companies.

Seven of the top 10 companies in this year’s list, including the top four, are based in Fairfax County.

The 2020 list is topped by Herndon-based B3 Group Inc. A federal contractor specializing in information technology services, B3 Group saw revenue growth of 3,231% from 2015 through 2018.

While its growth rate was not as high as last year’s Fantastic 50 list leader, Leesburg-based FedBiz IT Solutions, which posted a growth rate of 4,375%, B3 Group’s revenue growth was well ahead of every other company on the 2020 Fantastic 50 list.

The median revenue growth rate of all 50 companies on the 2020 list was 311.67%, significantly less than the 2019 rate of 404.62%.

In addition to B3 Group, two other companies were recognized as Vanguard winners in this year’s list, posting the highest revenue rates for their respective industries:

Service: Vienna-based information technology solutions firm Alpha Omega Integration LLC, with a growth rate of 2,687%. 

Technology: Stafford County-based federal contractor GCubed Inc., with a growth rate of 1,440%. 

No companies qualified for the list under the manufacturing or retail/wholesale categories this year.

To be eligible for the list, a company must have recorded revenue of at least $200,000 in 2015. It also must have posted a profit in 2018 and brought in less than $200 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year.

Read more about this year’s Fantastic 50 winners:

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Sorry, we’re CLOSED

“April is the cruelest month,” T.S. Eliot wrote, but for the hospitality and tourism industries, the cruelty began in March.

With conferences and conventions canceling reservations amid the pandemic, hotels and convention centers across the commonwealth have temporarily shut down operations, furloughing and laying off workers.

By late March, Virginia lost more than 23,000 hotel jobs due to the coronavirus crisis, and the American Hotel and Lodging Association estimated that number would rise to more than 78,000. Nationally, the hotel industry lost more than 1 million jobs by late March.

McLean-based Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which has temporarily closed about 1,000 of its more than 6,100 hotels and furloughed employees, saw its revenue per available room decrease by almost 60% in March.

Some mainstays like The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, delayed new reservations until at least July 1, in light of government restrictions on group meetings and uncertainty surrounding how long the pandemic might impact business travel and gatherings. (By mid-April, the United States had the most confirmed corona-virus cases and deaths in the world.)

Perhaps the greatest signifier of the rapid evaporation of the travel and meetings businesses in Virginia is the fact that Gov. Ralph Northam designated the Dulles Expo Center, the Greater Richmond Convention Center and the Hampton Roads Convention Center to be converted into field hospitals if needed for COVID-19 patient overflow.

Travel spending nationwide dropped from $19.8 billion in the first week of March to $3.3 billion in the first week of April, according to the U.S. Travel Association. Here in Virginia, weekly travel spending declined from $521 million to $101 million during the same period.

Virginia tourism attractions also have closed down operations.

George Washington’s Mount Vernon is closed indefinitely until health experts deem it is safe to reopen to visitors. Busch Gardens Williamsburg also closed down indefinitely and its parent company, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, has furloughed more than 90% of its workforce. Colonial Williamsburg, which had already been financially challenged by diminishing ticket revenues and visitation numbers in recent decades, closed its Historic Area, museums, hotels and restaurants through the end of May. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation furloughed most of its hospitality staff and instituted pay cuts for many employees.

Nevertheless, tourism officials are eager to remind visitors that the pandemic will not last forever. Virginia Tourism Corp. launched a new campaign, “We’ll Be Waiting For You,” emphasizing Virginia’s scenic beauty.

In a letter announcing the campaign, Virginia Tourism Corp. President and CEO Rita McClenny wrote, “We will remind our travelers that Virginia is — and always will be — a place for love and connection. And we will reassure them that Virginia’s incredible travel experiences will still be here whenever they are ready to travel again.”

Read more stories about the challenges experienced by Virginia’s tourism and lodging industries during the pandemic:

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Virginia Chamber of Commerce seeks input for reopening businesses

During the next two weeks, the Virginia Chamber of Commerce will be soliciting input from the business community for its “Blueprint for Getting Virginians Back to Work” initiative.

The chamber plans to release the blueprint plan in May after compiling the input it receives from surveys and other community engagement opportunities. Interested people must submit their survey responses by May 15.

“As our government and business leaders consider how to best recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that they have the guidance to ensure consumer confidence and worker safety,” Virginia Chamber President and CEO Barry DuVal said in a statement. “Through our Blueprint for Getting Virginians Back to Work initiative, we will provide recommendations on operating in the current economic climate caused by COVID-19 and how to return stronger than before.”

The chamber intends to provide advice to Gov. Ralph Northam’s COVID-19 Business Task Force, an advisory body of business leaders tapped by the governor to provide input on how Virginia should approach easing pandemic-related restrictions on businesses.

“We see our blueprint as an important way for the business community to quickly provide [Northam’s] administration with guidance,” DuVal said.

 

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