JUUL Hopes to Cover the World In Vapor

Soon countries all over the world may one day have their very own “Juul rooms,” as the embattled e-cigarette company is looking to expand their markets overseas. Vapor Trails JUUL Labs has filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealing that it has raised $325 million in equity from investors to expand its operations across the globe. Nicotine kings Altria own 35% of JUUL, which dominates the electronic cigarette game, with control of 71% of the U.S. market. But heavy is the head that wears the crown, as plenty of political leaders aren’t too happy with the company’s success. Crown JUUL? After news began to spread that America’s teenagers are rapidly beginning to get hooked on JUUL (so much so that the CEO Kevin Burns apologized to parents, and the New York Times reported that 21% of high school students say they’ve vaped within the past 30 days), the Food and Drug Administration began cracking down on e-cigarette sales, and states such as Connecticut and North Carolina have begun investigating the company’s attempts to market to young people. And now the Center for Disease Control has weighed in, announcing an investigation into a “cluster” of lung illnesses that could possibly be related to e-cigarette use. The CDC said 14 states have reported 94 different cases of "severe pulmonary disease" that could possibly be related to vaping, mostly among teens and young adults. The FDA is also investigating reports of seizures amongst e-cigarette users. Flee The Scene While many companies look to expand their reach across the globe, this is a pattern for JUUL, which began expanding into South Korea, the Philippines, and Indonesia after the company’s hometown of San Francisco, approved an ordinance to ban the sale of e-cigarettes until companies get approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. -Michael Tedder Photo by Mike Segar/REUTERS