Juul to cut staff, slash spending by $1b

Juul Labs, the biggest marketer of e-cigarettes, said on Tuesday that it will eliminate about 650 jobs, or about 16 percent of its global workforce, and slash spending by about $1 billion, as the US government prepares regulations to curb the use of e-cigarettes.

Earlier, San Francisco-based Juul said it expected to reduce its workforce by 400 to 600 employees. The company had hired about 300 employees each month as its staff increased to about 4,000.

The deeper job cuts suggest the negative publicity surrounding lung injury cases has hit sales harder than anticipated, or the company expects future sales to decline sharply.