B6| Friday, September 20, 2019 THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.**

BUSINESS NEWS

be determined.

The Major League Baseball

team, which is valued at $3.2

billion, according to Forbes,

said last year it was looking to

sell a minority stake in the

franchise.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

declined to comment. Gala-

tioto Sports Partners, which

represented Guggenheim Base-

ball Management in the stake

sale, declined to comment.

Mr. Plummer is the founder

of R.P. Lumber Company Inc.,

a chain of material-supply

stores in Illinois and Missouri.

Mr. Smolinisky is an investor

who began his career in com-

mercial real estate. A Los An-

geles native, he owns the Pali-

sadian-Post newspaper in the

Pacific Palisades neighborhood

of the city, according to a per-

son familiar with the matter.

Messrs. Smolinisky and Plum-

mer couldn’t be reached for

comment.

Bloomberg News reported

Wednesday that the Dodgers

had sold a minority stake.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

were sold in 2012 to an invest-

ment group led by Messrs.

Johnson and Walter, the chief

executive of financial-services

firm Guggenheim Partners, for

about $2.15 billion.

At the time, the figure

broke the record for a sales

price for a U.S. sports fran-

chise, The Wall Street Journal

reported, dwarfing Steve

Ross’s 2009 $1.1 billion pur-

chase of the Miami Dolphins.

The Dodgers have finished

in first place in their division

for seven straight seasons and

have the best record in the

National League this year.

The value of sports fran-

chises has ballooned in recent

years, as TV networks are in-

creasingly willing to pay a pre-

mium for the rights to retrans-

mit their content.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

added Alan Smolinisky and

Robert Plummer to the team’s

ownership group, whose mem-

bers include financial-manage-

ment executive Mark Walter

and basketball legend Magic

Johnson, people familiar with

the matter said.

The size and price of the

stake bought by Messrs. Smo-

linisky and Plummer couldn’t

BYBENJAMINMULLIN

Dodgers Add Two to Ownership Team

Startup Takes Bubble Power to the Seine

URBAN MOBILITY: Paris is testing an electric water taxi dubbed the Bubble, which is still in early development stages. Sweden’s Anders Bringdal, co-founder of the

startup, SeaBubbles, standing onboard a model by the Eiffel Tower on Wednesday.

FRANCOIS MORI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

striking distance of a record.

The slide shows how Al-

tria’s $12.8 billion investment

in Juul Labs Inc.—which the

company touted as a way for it

to tap into a rapidly growing

market while offsetting the

broader decline in traditional

smokers—hasn’t worked out

exactly as it had hoped.

Juul has been hit by a num-

ber of setbacks this year that

have put its future in doubt.

President Trump has said he

plans to ban most vaping fla-

vors because of growing

health concerns; the Federal

Trade Commission is investi-

gating whether Juul used in-

fluencers with large social-me-

dia followings to appeal to

minors; and sales of the com-

pany’s vaporizers were

abruptly halted in China.

Worries about the firm’s

potential merger with rival

Philip Morris International

Inc. have also hurt the stock.

Analysts have raised questions

since the two companies con-

firmed that they were discuss-

ing potentially reuniting, with

Citigroup’s Adam Spielman

saying in a note this month

that a deal might only increase

the combined firm’s reliance

on traditional nicotine prod-

ucts at a time when cigarette

use is declining.

One silver lining: After tak-

ing a hit, Altria’s stock looks

relatively cheap. It is trading

at around 9.1 times its ex-

pected earnings over the next

12 months, well below its five-

year average of 17 times. And

shareholders can expect to

reap relatively hefty divi-

dends, too: Altria offers a divi-

dend yield of around 8.2%, ac-

cording to FactSet, around

four times that of the S&P

500.

Not that it is helping draw

investors back in yet.

The regulatory outlook for

vaping products looks riskier

than initially expected, said

Piper Jaffray analyst Michael

Lavery in a note earlier in

September.

He has lowered his rating

for the stock to “neutral” from

“overweight.”

America’s biggest tobacco

company is being burned by

its investment in e-cigarettes.

Altria Group Inc. shares

have tumbled 19% in 2019 to a

roughly five-year low, with

selling accelerating in recent

weeks after health officials

and politicians stepped up

scrutiny of e-cigarette device

Juul.

That is even as the broader

market has rallied, with the

S&P 500 up 20% and within

BYAKANEOTANI

Altria’s E-Cigarette Bet Becomes Drag on Shares

Insys Therapeutics Inc.

won bankruptcy-court ap-

proval to sell Subsys, the opi-

oid that spawned criminal

racketeering charges against

its top executives, and set off

investigations and lawsuits

that plunged the company into

bankruptcy.

It is believed to be the first

bankruptcy sale of a pharma-

ceutical drug that played a

role in fueling the nationwide

opioid epidemic, said Judge

Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bank-

ruptcy Court in Wilmington,

Del. At a court hearing, he said

he would sign off on a sales

agreement that includes safe-

guards to ward off future mis-

use of Subsys.

The deal terms will keep

Subsys on the market, but how

it is prescribed and to whom

will be closely watched, the

judge said.

Insys is a relatively small

player in the universe of com-

panies accused of profiting

from the opioid crisis, and

Subsys is a niche drug, or it

was supposed to be, said Brian

Edmunds, a lawyer for Mary-

land and other states that

raised concerns about the sale

and asked for restrictions to

be built in.

Lawyers for states have

been active in Insys’s bank-

ruptcy, intent on ensuring it

sets high standards for other

opioid bankruptcies, such as

that of OxyContin maker Pur-

due Pharma LP.

The states dropped their

objections to the Subsys sale

at Thursday’s hearing after

agreements were reached with

the buyer, BTcP Pharma LLC.

“This drug has real impor-

tant uses,” Arik Preis, a lawyer

for the official committee of

Insys’s creditors, said at the

hearing. “With the nationwide

opioid crisis we sometimes

lose the fact that these drugs

have real uses.”

Designed to address break-

through cancer pain, the un-

der-the-tongue formulation of

fentanyl was marketed for off-

label uses.

Under the sale terms, BTcP

Pharma and owner Michael M.

Burke pledged to sell the drug

only to doctors treating cancer

patients and to refrain from

aggressive marketing.

It remains unclear what In-

sys’s creditors will get from

the sale, but estimates of roy-

alties, unsold inventory and

accounts receivable could top

$20 million, according to a

lawyer for the company.

Insys was the first company

in the U.S. opioid supply chain

to file for bankruptcy to cope

with liabilities stemming from

widespread addiction.

BYPEGBRICKLEY

Insys Wins

Approval

For Sale

Of Opioid

CIGAR.com is here to prove how serious we are about earning your

trust and respect. How about five premium cigars for$5? Take 86% off

MSRP and savor some fine, flavorful handmade cigars. You’ll score one

each of Nica Libre, CIGAR.com American Label, Ramón Bueso Genesis,

HC Series Maduro, and Gurkha Class Regent. Each premium blend offers

a unique experience, making it the perfect mix for enthusiasts and

beginners alike. This is a limited time, highly exclusive offer, so act quickly.

*Includes shipping. Purchase may be subject to state or local sales tax where applicable. First-time purchasers

only. One per customer. No sales to anyone under the age of 21. We do not ship to Utah and South Dakota.

For more information see http://www.CIGAR.com/SHIP. Offer expires 10.15.19.

CIGAR.com|1911 Spillman Drive|Dept. #26|Bethlehem, PA 18015

http://www.CIGAR.com/CGSA2002

Enter full web address or search keyword: CGSA2002

Call 800.357.9800Mention CGSA2002

Offer expires 10.15.19

5

$

5

CIGARS

only

No-Drill MudFlaps

©2018 by MacNeil IP LLC

FloorLiner™

New!

Non-Toxic

Feeding

System

PetComfort.com

800.441.6287

International #001.630.769.1500