Facing low sales and trouble from regulators, Juul is planning to shrink its European presence and stop selling in Austria, Belgium, Portugal, France, and Spain by the end of 2020, reports Buzzfeed News.

The San Francisco-based e-cigarette maker plans to leave France at the end of the year and pull out of the other countries in July, an employee told Buzzfeed News. Hundreds of employees in the affected countries will be laid off. A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that Juul is planning to cut about one-third of its 3,000-person workforce.
If Juul stops selling in those five countries, its presence in Europe will be limited to Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, The Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Ukraine, as well as Russia and the United Kingdom, two of its biggest markets globally, the report said.
According to the employee, Juul’s reasons for leaving the countries are mixed. Spain and France had relatively high sales compared to most European markets, but not high enough to justify the staff needed or the trouble from local regulators. Austria, Belgium, and Portugal were considered too small to continue investing in. However, the cuts are not related to the coronavirus pandemic, the report said.