Back in 2018, Tobacco giant Altria invested $1.8 billion in Canadian cannabis company Cronos Group. The very public investment gave Altria a 45% stake in the Canadian firm. Since then, the company has been trying to increase its stake in the nascent marijuana industry behind the scenes by patenting cannabis technology. According to records from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Altria filed two patents for vaporizer devices specifically designed for cannabis in late February this year. It also owns two older vaporizer patents from the same inventor filed before Altria bought a stake in Cronos and Cronos got those patents through a sale, a company spokesman said. Still, the four cannabis-based patents the company has filed so far show that it is serious about investing in marijuana as a new growth area, especially as the sales of traditional cigarettes decline. However, like most firms in the cannabis space, Altria’s investment suffered during the pandemic, losing roughly one-third of its value.
CannabisNewsWire, 10/07/2020 16:20:30