Philip Morris Chairman Has Musk Moment at Shareholder Meeting

In an exchange reminiscent of Elon Musk’s recent clash with analysts, the debate got heated at Philip Morris International Inc.’s annual shareholder meeting. Although corporate calls and investor events tend to be procedural -- even boring -- the tobacco giant’s chairman didn’t hold back as gadfly shareholders took aim at the company’s heat-not-burn iQos device, a key product in its plan to combat falling cigarette sales. Another investor, who argued in a question-and-answer session that iQos is essentially just a new channel to fuel consumers’ nicotine addiction, was told to “read some science.” The device is not “some plastic version of a combustible cigarette,” Camilleri said.