the united states tobacco division of altria group . contents 1 history 1.1 creation 1.2 early years 1.3 altria 2 brands 3 see also 4 references history edit creation edit the company s namesake philip morris was born in whitechapel united kingdom in 1835 the son of a recent immigrant from germany who had taken the name bernard morris . citation needed in 1847 the family opened a shop in london . the first cigarettes that philip morris made were in 1854 and were known as philip morris english ovals a non filter brand of oval shaped cigarettes that are still manufactured today in very limited quantities . 1 early years edit in 1902 philip morris & co. ltd. was incorporated in new york city . george j. whelan bought the american division of the company in 1919 and created philip morris & company ltd. along with fellow shareholders reuben m. ellis and leonard b. mckitterick . 2 in 1929 the company made its first cigarettes in richmond using an existing factory the company purchased . in 1933 this factory was racially integrated more than 30 years before the law required it . in 1938 the company offered preferred stock to ordinary buyers . 3 in 1924 philip morris began advertising marlboros specifically to women . the cigarettes had new cork tip filters housed in a flip top box with a red roof design . 4 in 1970 philip morris made the first of several acquisitions with the purchase of miller brewing company . in 1985 philip morris cos. became a holding company and the parent of philip morris inc. and bought general foods . the acquisition of kraft foods came in 1988 after which kraft and general foods became kraft general foods . 4 in the 1970s in response to smokers health concerns philip morris introduced the light cigarette which was later found to be no safer than any others . 5 in 1976 marlboro became the leading brand in the u.s. ; morris operated as the largest seller of tobacco in the u.s. and the second largest in the world . in 2001 kraft foods launched an initial public offering ipo for 11.1 % of the company that took in 8.7 billion making it the second largest ipo in american history at the time . 6 in 2002 miller brewing and south african breweries became sabmiller the second largest maker of beer in the world though philip morris kept an interest in the merged company . altria edit on january 27 2003 philip morris companies inc. changed its name to altria group inc. 7 even under this new name altria continues to own 100 % of philip morris usa abbreviated pm usa . some view this name change as an effort by altria to de emphasize its historical association with tobacco products . citation needed in the fall of 2003 philip morris usa moved its headquarters from new york city to richmond virginia . on march 30 2007 the remaining 88.9 % stake in kraft foods was spun off to shareholders . 8 philip morris international was split from philip morris usa in march 2008 . this has caused a drop in the needed cigarette production due to no need for export product . philip morris shut down its concord north carolina manufacturing facility in 2010 and moved all domestic production to richmond which now contains the largest philip morris plant in the world producing 146 billion cigarettes in 2010 . 9 in 2009 philip morris dropped the use of light after many felt the word misrepresented the products as a healthier cigarette . 10 brands edit philip morris usa brands include marlboro virginia slims benson & hedges merit parliament alpine basic cambridge bucks dave s chesterfield collector s choice commander lark l & m and players greensmoke markten . see also edit altria philip morris international marlboro tobacco industry tobacco master settlement agreement marlboro friday johnny roventini spokesperson & living trademark racketeering u.s. district judge gladys kessler found the company and parent company altria guilty of the crime in 2006 11 12 references edit our history altria 1800 1900 . altria.com . retrieved 2010 09 16 . martin jonathan ; shelton pamela l. philip morris companies inc pdf . industry documents digital library . university of california san francisco . retrieved july 24 2015 . our history altria 1900 1950 . altria.com . retrieved 2010 09 16 . a b our history altria 1951 2000 . altria.com . retrieved 2010 09 16 . light cigarettes and cancer risk . national cancer institute . retrieved 2016 05 20 . the 11 largest ipos in u.s. history . time . 2012 02 02 . our history altria 2001 present . altria.com . retrieved 2010 09 16 . http investor.altria.com phoenix.zhtml c 80855 & p irol faq kraft tkd the shameful past pdf . tobaccocontrol.bmj.com . retrieved 2013 12 09 . cigarette companies sidestep light ban with colored packaging a long history of deception international business times . retrieved 2016 05 20 . cnn.com judge finds tobacco racketeering aug 17 2006 . cnn . bartz diane 2011 06 01 . u.s. judge declines to shut tobacco racketeering case . reuters . v t e altria philip morris usa basic benson & hedges cambridge chesterfield lark l & m marlboro merit parliament virginia slims u.s. smokeless tobacco copenhagen red seal skoal john middleton co. black & mild prince albert ste. michelle wine estates chateau ste. michelle stag s leap wine cellars 50 % v t e cigarettes types fashion fire safe kretek lights menthol beedi components tobacco rolling paper filter additives peripherals ashtray case holder lighter pack receptacles vending machine culture cigarette card cigarette smoking among college students loosie smoking fetishism tobacco smoking health issues chain smoking cigarette smoking for weight loss nicotine poisoning passive smoking third hand smoke schizophrenia and smoking sidestream smoke smoking cessation tobacco harm reduction related products nicotine patch nicotine gum nicotine inhaler nicotine lozenge electronic cigarette candy cigarette herbal cigarette tobacco industry cultivation of tobacco egyptian cigarette industry history of commercial tobacco in the united states tobacco advertising government and the law cigarette smuggling illicit cigarette trade plain cigarette packaging smoking age smoking bans in private vehicles tobacco control movement tobacco master settlement agreement tobacco packaging warning messages tobacco politics who framework convention on tobacco control protocol to eliminate illicit trade in tobacco products lists cigarette brands cigarette smoke carcinogens countries by cigarette consumption per capita rolling papers smoking bans category commons retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title philip morris usa & oldid 733011838 categories altria group subsidiariescompanies based in richmond virginiatobacco companies of the united statesphilip morrishidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from july 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 4 august 2016 at 19 31 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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