Tiger cuts Juul’s valuation in half to $19bn
E-cigarette maker Juul has had its valuation slashed in half to $19bn (£14.5bn) by investment firm Tiger Global Management.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the writedown happened at the end of September, as investors continue to cool on one-time Silicon Valley darlings.
Read more: Vaping backlash hits Altria for $4.5bn
Fellow investors such as New York hedge fund Darsana Capital Partners, also recently valued Juul around $24 billion.
Altria, which owns a 35 per cent stake in the company, took a £4.5bn hit from its investment in October.
The tobacco giant, which bought its stake in Juul for $12.8bn last December, saw its value shrink by more than a third to roughly $24bn.
The vaping market has been under pressure in recent months as regulators have sought to crack down on the habit,
In September President Trump took aim at the industry amid a spate of vaping related illnesses, threatening to ban flavoured products.
Tiger was one of Juul’s earliest investors and has been involved with the firm since early 2017.
Read more: Juul raised $325m to fund global expansion of e-cigarette range
It then led a fundraising round in Juul in July 2018, when it invested $600m to value the company at $16bn.
Both Tiger Global and Juul were not immediately available for comment.