Juul Co-Founder James Monsees Lost His Billionaire Status In Less Than A Year

Five years ago, Juul Labs surpassed a $10 billion valuation faster than any other startup in history — including Facebook, Snapchat, and Dropbox. However, as explored in Netflix’s Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul, what was once one of the world’s fastest-growing companies hit devastating financial lows just as quickly, effectively shrinking co-founder James Monsees’ fortune.

While studying product design at Stanford University, Monsees and Adam Bowen began working on an electronic cigarette called Ploom. In 2007, they launched a company of the same, which they later rebranded as Pax Labs. In 2015, the business developed a new nicotine e-cigarette device, the Juul, and they founded a separate company, Juul Labs, two years later.

In April 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it had investigated underage sales of Juul products and began rolling out plans to stop youth use of Juul and other e-cigarettes. Then-FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called teenage vaping an “epidemic” and gave manufacturers 60 days to submit plans detailing how they’d combat problems, like using fruity flavors and youth-targeted advertising.

In response, Juul announced plans to pull all flavors (except tobacco, mint, and menthol) from retail stores in November 2018. Despite the scrutiny, Marlboro-cigarette maker Altria bought a one-third stake in Juul a month later, valuing the company at $38 billion. The purchase made Monsees, then the chief product officer, a billionaire.

While Juul was marketed as a less harmful tool to help adults quit smoking conventional cigarettes, the company faced widespread criticism for helping spark the teen nicotine-vaping crisis. Monsees defended the company in a congressional hearing in July 2019.

Speaking to the House Oversight’s Economic and Consumer Policy subcommittee, Monsees claimed that Juul “never wanted any non-nicotine users, and certainly not anyone underage” to use its products. He also acknowledged federal data showing millions of high school students started vaping as Juul’s products became popular, per CNBC.

“We’ve certainly made missteps,” Monsees testified. “I understand the criticism of some of our past actions, but we moved on very quickly.” In the following year, the company’s fortune sharply declined, and one of Juul’s investors, hedge fund Darsana Capital Partners, reportedly slashed Juul’s valuation by more than a third (from $38 billion to $24 billion) in fall 2019.

As a result, Monsees’ reported net worth dipped from $1.1 billion to an estimated $900 million, according to Forbes, meaning he and Bowen, who each own an estimated 1.75 percent stake in the company, lost their billionaire status within less than a year.

Monsees resigned from Juul in March 2020. In a company-wide memo obtained by Buzzfeed News, he wrote that he’d recently gotten married and was “looking forward to spending more time with my family and pursuing other interests both personally and professionally.” A company spokesperson also confirmed to the outlet that Monsees was stepping down as an adviser and board member.

After leaving Juul, Monsees was named in multiple lawsuits related to his time at the company, which has settled more than 5,000 lawsuits regarding the product’s marketing and addiction. Juul nearly went bankrupt in 2022 and was seeking $1 billion in funding in August 2023.

Otherwise, Monsees has largely kept a low profile. On LinkedIn, the San Francisco-based businessman describes himself as a “design thinker, implementer” and an investor. Since 2020, he has been an independent investor and advisor on business and product strategy, according to his professional bio on Siddhi Capital’s website.