[8] Philip Morris executives thought a name change would insulate the larger corporation and its other operating companies from the political pressures on tobacco.

[10] In 2006, a United States court found that Philip Morris "publicly ... disputed scientific findings linking smoking and disease knowing their assertions were false.

Adding ammonia increases the smoke pH, in a process called "freebasing" which causes smokers to be "exposed to higher internal nicotine doses and become more addicted to the product.

[16] This ended a short era of competition between the new Marlboro smokeless tobacco products such as snus, and those produced by UST Inc. On December 8, 2018, Altria announced its intent to acquire a 45% stake in Cronos Group for $1.8 billion.

[17] On December 20, 2018, Altria finalized the acquisition of a 35% stake in JUUL Labs, an e-cigarette company based out of San Francisco, California, for $12.8 billion.

[20] Altria is taking a stake in the global business of Swiss tobacco company Burger Söhne (Helix Innovations with the On!

[citation needed] Altria and Japan Tobacco announced a joint venture called Horizon Innovations LLC on October 27, 2022.

[24] Members of the board of directors of Altria Group as of February 2013 were:[26] Prior to being based in Virginia, Philip Morris had its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.

[30] As of 2024, Altria's three medical subsidiaries included the following: Cronos group (maker of recreational cannabis), Lexaria Bioscience (Developer of proprietary drug delivery technology, DehydraTECH, to improve active pharmaceutical ingredients entrance into the bloodstream) and Micreos (biotech company focused on discovering and developing recombinant proteins for chronic dermatology and oncology conditions).

[22] According to the Center for Public Integrity, Altria spent around $101 million on lobbying the United States government between 1998 and 2004, the second-highest such figure for any organization in the nation.

[33][34] Altria also funded The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition which lobbied against the scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate change.

[35] Daniel Smith, representing Altria, sits on the Private Enterprise Board of the American Legislative Exchange Council.