Philip Morris Intl. relocating from NYC to CT; Lamont signing marijuana bill into law today

Philip Morris International (PMI) is moving its U.S. corporate headquarters from New York City to a to-be-determined site in Connecticut, its CEO announced at an event Tuesday morning alongside Gov. Ned Lamont.

Jacek Olczak said the company is still reviewing potential locations, but that it will be in lower Fairfield County. The new headquarters is expected to be operational by summer 2022, and will involve relocating about 200 workers from Manhattan.

Olczak was quick to note that PMI does not “sell cigarettes as you know them in any state.” Instead, the company has focused for the past several years on IQOS, an electronic, heat-not-burn “tobacco product.”

“We will solve the problem of smoking,” Olczak declared, saying that the company expects to save millions of lives by manufacturing and promoting such products. According to PMI”™s website, it has invested over $8.1 billion in scientific research on noncigarette products.

PMI, whose world headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, was spun off from Philip Morris Companies Inc. (now Altria) in 2008. Via its Philip Morris USA division, Altria manufactures such brands as Marlboro, Virginia Slims and Parliament; it also has a minority stake in e-cigarette company Juul.

“We got divorced but we forgot to change our names,” Olczak quipped about the two companies. “More than half of our revenue will be from noncombustible sources within five years.”

Lamont said that talks between the state and PMI began roughly 18 months ago on a semi-casual basis. “It wasn”™t all about the numbers,” he remarked, saying that unlike past deals that have brought companies to the state, this one is not contingent upon PMI”™s hitting certain benchmarks like the creation of jobs or investments to receive tax breaks.

In the meantime, the governor is expected to sign the bill legalizing recreational marijuana at noon Tuesday.