Juul vape has raised more than $700 million in debt to maintain its operations.
Just a week before the financing, Altria, a tobacco company, wrote down $4 billion in its Juul investment assets, almost a third of the $12.8 billion it initially invested in the company.
As electronic cigarette related diseases spread across the U.S., regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. intensified, which had an impact on the company. Juul cut more than 650 jobs in November and announced plans to cut $1 billion in spending. It has also pulled its most popular flavors out of the US market and curtailed its international expansion plans.
Struggling to cope with growing pressure from regulators, Juul saw its valuation plummet from $38 billion. Juul is currently facing a number of lawsuits and strict regulatory scrutiny. The U.S. FDA is also cracking down on e-cigarettes. In January, it issued a ban on all flavors of e-cigarettes.
A spokesman for Juul said the company is committed to working with the U.S. government to ban the use of e-cigarettes by minors and help adult smokers transition from using traditional cigarettes to using e-cigarettes.
As part of this process in the United States, Juul is preparing comprehensive and scientific pre-sales applications for tobacco products. In November, Juul stopped selling e-cigarettes other than tobacco and menthol flavors, stopped TV, print media and digital media advertising, implemented a $1 billion restructuring plan, and avoided lobbying the government on the draft of flavor guide, and it supported the final decision of the government.
