Philip Morris International (PMI; ticker: PM) owns ZYN. However, Swedish Match launched ZYN in the USA, not PMI. Swedish Match, together with all its subsidiaries around the world, was acquired by PMI in November 2022.
How to invest in ZYN
ZYN’s remarkable growth and burgeoning popularity are increasingly catching the eye of investors. The nicotine pouch market is rapidly expanding, with ZYN holding a dominant position in the U.S. with close to 70% market share. As consumers seek discreet, tobacco-free nicotine products, the rise of nicotine pouches presents a promising long-term growth opportunity, especially in markets like the U.S. where smoking is declining but nicotine demand remains robust. With increasing regulatory scrutiny on smoking and vaping products, particularly flavored ones, nicotine pouches like ZYN are viewed as a safer, more socially acceptable option. This aligns with public health trends favoring harm reduction and could pave the way for the long-term growth of the modern oral nicotine category.
Investors are interested in gaining exposure to ZYN, but there is no ticker ZYN. Actually, ZYN is a brand, not a publicly traded company. ZYN was developed and launched in the U.S. by Swedish Match, a Swedish company specializing in tobacco products, including smokeless and nicotine pouches. Swedish Match is well known for producing other tobacco products like snus, cigars, and chewing tobacco. ZYN is owned by Swedish Match North America (SWNA) LLC, a Swedish Match subsidiary, in the U.S. SWMA launched ZYN nicotine pouches in the United States in 2016. However, the development of ZYN began in early 2010s as part of the company’s strategy to create tobacco-free nicotine products. It progressively gained popularity as a discreet and smokeless nicotine alternative, especially in markets like the U.S., where there is increasingly stronger demand for non-tobacco nicotine options.
Swedish Match, together with all its subsidiaries around the world, was officially acquired by Philip Morris International (PMI) in November 2022. PMI completed the acquisition after a prolonged bidding process, which valued Swedish Match at ~US$16 billion. As a result of Swedish Match acquisition, Philip Morris International owns ZYN as part of its smoke-free portfolio. However, it is important to note that PMI, the Marlboro-owner in the international markets, is not owned by Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA. Therefore, Altria, the Marlboro-owner in the USA, does not own ZYN. Altria is a competitor to PMI and ZYN in the U.S. tobacco market. Altria owns On! nicotine pouches which holds the #2 position in the U.S. market with close to 20% market share.
The most simplest way for investors to gain exposure to ZYN nicotine pouches is by investing in Philip Morris International, the parent company that now owns Swedish Match, the maker of ZYN. Since PMI is a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol PM, purchasing PMI stock provides exposure to ZYN. However, PMI reported US$37.9 billion in revenue in 2024 and only US$1.9 billion of it was from ZYN – representing 5% of the total. In other words, ownership in ZYN parent company, PMI provides exposure to ZYN alongside many other things – some are good (such as the fast-growing, US$10 billion IQOS franchise), and some are less good (such as the 30+ billion pack international cigarette business in decline).
Nevertheless, ZYN’s growth trajectory in the US affects PMI’s share price performance more than what its weight in revenue implies. In 2024, PMI sold around 580 million cans of ZYN in the US – representing a 50% growth year-on-year basis. The additional ZYN volume in the US, coupled with retail price hikes, will generate 20% and 25% of PMI’s estimated revenue and operating profit growth in 2024, respectively. Therefore, ZYN growth in the US is a significant driver of PMI’s financial delivery and, thereby, its share price performance. However, not to the same level it drove the Swedish Match share price. Swedish Match had roughly 1/15th the size of PMI in terms of annual revenue before the acquisition and its shares were traded on the Nasdaq Stockholm Stock Exchange. On back of ZYN’s growth in the US, Swedish Match share price doubled from SEK40 to SEK80 in the 2019-21 period before the SEK116 acquisition in 2022 by PMI.
