David Sylvia, a spokesperson for Altria Group Inc., parent company of UST Inc., said the reductions were due [image-nocss] to a consolidation of UST Inc.'s regional Longwood sales officeserving Florida, Georgia and Alabamawith the sales operations of Philip Morris USA, an Altria-owned tobacco manufacturer and marketer.
The job cuts will affect 16 employees in Virginia, including three at a regional sales office in Richmond, Va., Sylvia told The Richmond Times Dispatch.
Altria bought U.S. Smokeless' parent, UST Inc., in January for $10.4 billion, plus $1.3 billion in assumed debt. U.S. Smokeless is now a subsidiary of Altria, along with cigarette maker Philip Morris USA and cigar maker John Middleton Inc.
"We now have a centralized sales organization that supports all three companies," Sylvia told the paper. Other job cuts are expected elsewhere in the United States as the companies integrate their sales forces, but Sylvia said he could not release numbers.
U.S. Smokeless president Daniel Butler said at a news conference Wednesday that 80 employees are moving to the Richmond area from the company's Stamford, Conn., headquarters, which is closing this year. None of those employees is affected by the sales-force reductions, Sylvia told the paper.
A notice filed with state officials this week and made public yesterday indicated that U.S. Smokeless would cut 59 positions by June in the Richmond area. But Sylvia said most of the affected people are field sales employees who report to the Richmond office but live and work in a multistate region including Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Ohio and the District of Columbia.
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