phillip morris/ruyan negotiations?

[Bill Godshall]

When I called Tiffany Ellis at (510) 230-3947 to talk to her about her article on PM negotiating with Ruyan, after ten rings I was transferred to the voice mail of a person named "Jim" whose voice mailbox was full.

And the two e-mail addresses listed for Tiffany Ellis ui@jquery.com and
gualtmarketing@gmail.com appear suspect, but I'll try e-mailing her.

[Squawk15]

If this negotiation goes through, what would be the impact on the e-cigarette industry?
Do you think this will unleash a series of buyouts/mergers by Phillip Morris? Will Phillip Morris come out with the "ultimate" e-cig? I wonder what their pricing is going to be...

Sorry if this should've been started as another thread.. the forum won't let me create one yet as I'm new.

[paladinx]

But dont you think if you are pm, you would probably realize that tobacco cigarettes are on a decline, and they sooner or later will be a dead end product? The more restrictions on cigarettes the ever higher prices and taxes will probably just open up black markets for cigarettes. I dont know, If i was PM. I would be thinking of a new strategy for making money. They are already looking into snus products, that way their tobacco assets do not go to waste. With the tobacco they have, they could probably also manufacter eliquids. Plus they can learn from their past mistakes and have it open to the FDA and the public if E-cigarettes are genuinely much safer, than they might not have as much to hide.

Is PM getting involved automatically a bad thing?

[Slickstick]

ok. well... good?
idk what to think of this.
Just in case,....
We already have lowes and home depot as well as walmart flashlight battery and cart mods. All that is needed is the atty.
I suggest we work on the laser or windproof flameproof lighter mods to replace the atty.

[pigelty]

PM should not be freaked out by ecigs. Not all tobacco smokers liked the ecig...so there will always be plenty of tobacco smokers.

I think the "heatbar" is not a clever idea, but may be good and a little less harmful for some ppl.

PM should also sell PV's in Malboro flavors. With this, they are selling the nicotine and a product that serves a s a substitute for the hand to mouth fixation.

This way they can sell other products along with tobacco products and save face in the public health's eye.

My ultimate concern is that PV's are NOT banned-ever and sold as equally as tobacco cigs/products.

[DaBrat]

The negotiations with Ruyan fell through. I believe PM may be interested in the ecig technology simly due to their previous failures to produce a smokeless cigarette. They even developed something similar to a box mod at one time but neither the time nor design was right.

By buying a known ecig company they bypass all the patent infringement stuff and can just pump em out with the same design as well as getting rid of what they probably see as the biggest competitor in the niche. The fact that Ruyan was testesd in NZ is even more of a leg up.

PM is not stupid and in the end its about money. Realizing that the ecig community is growing it would behoove them to get a foot in the door. I believe they saw it as a backdoor fad for geeks and freaks when it first started.

PM taking it mainstream would not be too bad an idea, it would eliminate the fear of 'that stuff out of China'. Why I am not sure since it was proven that they intentionally dosed analogs to maximize the addictive propoerties.

[vaprfan]

This is the 3rd time I've seen this story recycled it is junk, BS, not true. Please people recognize a pump and dump when u see it. Ruyan has nothing, in fact I read in Miller Divetsified's form 8-k filing thatbig tobacco has filed an e-cig type patent of their own, which means that Ruyan has nothing that is marketable in terms of intellectual property coupled with no marketshare in the US or anywhere.

[DaBrat]

This is the 3rd time I've seen this story recycled it is junk, BS, not true. Please people recognize a pump and dump when u see it. Ruyan has nothing, in fact I read in Miller Divetsified's form 8-k filing thatbig tobacco has filed an e-cig type patent of their own, which means that Ruyan has nothing that is marketable in terms of intellectual property coupled with no marketshare in the US or anywhere.

This is the source of my info: Quamnet.com stock news

Quamnet is now a leading provider of Hong Kong market data and commentary to China's major financial websites and portals, including QQ.com, Sina.com.cn, Hexun and i-Feng

Do you believe that this source is unreliable?

As far as their ecig patent, I believe that was included in my original post. They may be pulling the old one out of mothballs or maybe the patent you are looking at is that one.

[ChipCurtis]

This is the 3rd time I've seen this story recycled it is junk, BS, not true. Please people recognize a pump and dump when u see it. Ruyan has nothing, in fact I read in Miller Divetsified's form 8-k filing thatbig tobacco has filed an e-cig type patent of their own, which means that Ruyan has nothing that is marketable in terms of intellectual property coupled with no marketshare in the US or anywhere.

I'm not clear on which part of this you say isn't true:
- PM and Ruyan negotiating at all? or
- Negotiations falling through?

Also-- Ruyan has no U.S. marketshare? A Ruyan product has never crossed the borders into the U.S.? How is that?

I don't think there is any recognized U.S. patent for the e-cig yet, so Ruyan is not a special case here. They've simply filed patent in China along with other Chinese companies.

[vaprfan]

Ruyan's market presence is negligible. They are not a widely sold brand. They have nominal marketshare, to the point that there market presence is irrelevant.

In the US the top wire services (eg. Pr newswire and Marketwire) won't let companies issue press releases through their services with other companies names and more specifically stock symbols, If those companies haven't given written permission for inclusion in the release. I highly doubt that the disseminating site has the same requirements. (however please note that small wire services, that are not recognized by the SEC as public dissemination sources, also may not follow these practices.)

In short I believe that the story is bunk.