British American Tobacco (BAT) has announced that it plans to get rid of 2,300 jobs by 2020, in an effort to shift towards potentially reduced-risk products, The Guardian reported.

In a statement, CEO, Jack Bowles, said he made this decision because he wanted to make BAT “a stronger, simpler and faster organisation” that was prepared for a future in which individuals moved away from cigarettes, according to the report.
Although a large percentage of the company’ GBP 24.5 bn revenue in 2018 came from traditional cigarettes, BAT said that it “could save money to invest in alternative products such as vaping and heated tobacco products” by removing jobs from the company, the report said. Bowles said BAT aimed to make GBP 5 bn of its revenue from potentially reduced-risk products by the 2023-24 financial year.
This announcement came after the Trump administration released a ban proposal on non-tobacco e-cigarette flavours on 11 September. The company responding to the US government’s plans, saying, “We welcome the Trump administration and the FDA shining a spotlight on the important issue of youth access to vapour products. We have always been clear that youth should not use vapour products and have had stringent measures in place to address this for some time.
“We share President Trump’s concern that some flavours, such as those resembling ‘kid-friendly’ food products, may play a role in increasing youth appeal and that marketing activities should not be directed to youth.
“It is important to note that we do not market such vapour flavours and in fact we have supported measures to remove vapour products intended to mimic children’s food products or otherwise designed to target youth, and have procedures in place to ensure our products are only marketed to adult tobacco consumers.”