Philip Morris International

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Philip Morris InternationalPMI says it is building a future without cigarettes. This map sets that vision beside what regulators, health bodies and its own numbers show.This interactive story graph needs JavaScript. The full content follows.

Philip Morris International: The cigarette maker that sells Marlboro outside the US and says its purpose is now to replace cigarettes with smoke-free alternatives.

Bond Street shop, 1847: The company’s own account of where it starts: a tobacconist’s shop in London, long before the US cigarette brands.

Part of Philip Morris Cos.: PMI began as the international operating arm of a US parent, which later renamed itself Altria.

Lausanne operations centre: PMI moved its operations centre from the US to Switzerland, where it still runs global operations.

Spun off from Altria, 2008: PMI became an independent public company, leaving the US cigarette business with Altria and taking the rest of the world.

Marlboro: The flagship cigarette brand. PMI sells it everywhere except the US, where Altria’s Philip Morris USA does.

When was Marlboro born?: PMI dates the Marlboro trademark to 1908; Wikipedia says the brand was introduced in 1924. This map shows both rather than choosing.

World’s best-selling cigarette: By PMI’s account Marlboro reached the top of global cigarette sales in 1972 and stayed there as the company’s anchor.

“All cigarettes are harmful”: PMI’s own health page states plainly that cigarettes are harmful and addictive, including the brands it sells.

One billion smokers: The premise of the pivot: PMI argues the number of smokers is not expected to fall soon, so people who don’t quit need an alternative.

The smoke-free vision: In 2016 PMI announced it would shift resources to smoke-free products, with the aim that they one day replace cigarettes.

“Not risk-free”: PMI’s vision is hedged: the products it promotes are described as better than smoking, not harmless, and they contain nicotine.

Two-thirds smoke-free by 2030: A numeric target that turns the vision into something measurable: most revenue from non-cigarette products by 2030.

42% smoke-free, H1 2026: PMI’s latest reported progress against the 2030 ambition: a little over two-fifths of net revenues from smoke-free products.

Jacek Olczak: A PMI lifer who became CEO in 2021 and Group CEO in 2026, the executive most associated with the transformation and the Swedish Match deal.

Neuchâtel R&D centre: The Swiss research facility PMI built for smoke-free products, years before it announced the vision publicly.

US$16 billion on R&D: PMI’s stated investment in smoke-free products since 2008, with a team of more than 1,600 scientists, engineers and technicians.

IQOS pilot, 2014: PMI’s first heat-not-burn platform goes into trial markets in Italy and Japan.

IQOS launches in Europe, 2015: A first wider rollout in selected cities, a year before the smoke-free vision was announced.

IQOS heated tobacco: A device that heats tobacco sticks instead of burning them, PMI’s lead smoke-free product and the core of its case for “switching”.

“95% lower harmful chemicals”: PMI’s headline number for IQOS, accompanied by its own footnote that this is not the same as a 95% reduction in risk.

IQOS ILUMA and BONDS: Newer generations: ILUMA (induction heating) in 2021 and a cheaper device, BONDS by IQOS, in 2022.

ZYN nicotine pouches: A tobacco-free oral nicotine pouch that came with Swedish Match and became PMI’s second pillar in the US.

Calls for regulation, 2000: At WHO hearings on the tobacco treaty, PMI said publicly that the industry should be regulated.

FDA authorizes IQOS, 2019: The FDA allowed IQOS onto the US market because it found fewer or lower levels of some toxins than cigarettes, with strict marketing limits.

“No safe tobacco product”: The regulator’s refrain across decisions: authorization is not endorsement, and quitting entirely benefits health most.

FDA reduced-exposure order, 2020: A second FDA step let PMI tell US adults that switching completely reduces exposure to harmful chemicals, but not that IQOS is less harmful.

WHO: exposure is not risk: Three weeks later the WHO said the FDA decision did not show heated tobacco is safer, and warned that exposure claims may mislead.

FDA authorizes ZYN, 2025: ZYN pouches cleared the FDA’s premarket pathway in January 2025, a few years after Swedish Match joined PMI.

ZYN reduced-risk claim, 2026: The FDA allowed 20 ZYN products to say that using them instead of cigarettes lowers risk of several named diseases, the first MRTP claim of that kind for ZYN.

Youth-access safeguards: PMI describes programs to keep its smoke-free products away from people under the legal age; regulators make this a condition of authorization.

Sampoerna and Coltabaco, 2005: Two acquisitions that gave PMI the largest cigarette makers in Indonesia and Colombia, the kind of scale that built its international cigarette base.

Altria’s US IQOS rights: A 2013 arrangement left Altria with US rights to PMI’s heated product; PMI bought them back after a dispute and launched IQOS in the US in 2025.

Swedish Match, 2022: A US$16 billion acquisition that brought ZYN and a leading oral nicotine portfolio, aimed squarely at the US market.

Vectura and Fertin, 2021: PMI bought inhaled-drug and oral-delivery businesses to grow beyond nicotine, in what it calls a broader wellness and healthcare push.

Vectura sold, 2024: After strong criticism, including from the WHO, PMI sold Vectura, saying the opposition to its transformation was unwarranted.

Opposing plain packaging: PMI says it has “forcefully objected” to some regulation, such as plain packs; Tobacco Tactics documents legal and lobbying challenges to EU and other rules.

Still mostly cigarettes?: Tobacco Tactics reports that a majority of PMI’s 2025 revenue still came from combustible products, even as PMI reports 42% smoke-free in H1 2026.

Cigarette volumes rose: Tobacco Tactics notes cigarette shipments rose in 2024 and that PMI dropped a 2025 target to ship under 550 billion combustible units.

Two audiences, two messages: Researchers who analysed a leaked PMI strategy document say the public message is transformation while the investor message stresses cigarette brands.

Foundation for a Smoke-Free World: A PMI-funded foundation launched in 2017; the WHO and other health bodies refused to work with it, and PMI ended its funding in 2023.