Altria

For most of the past decade, buying Oreos or Trident gum for your kids meant sending money to the Marlboro Man. Those brands have gone their separate ways, but there are still many odd matches in the wild world of conglomerates, where companies own siblings that don't really look like one another.

While painful (for most folks) to watch, the actor's explosion has created a bonanza for the tabloid mill. But on a broader level, Sheen has also offers a potential shot in the arm for companies across the spectrum, from media to pharmaceuticals. Hey Viacom, how about Charlie's Family?

In business jargon, it seems like round has come back around. We're hearing a resurgence of the defense-minded phrase "circling the wagons," as well as the extremely slippery phrase "circle back," which changes its meaning completely depending on who's saying it.

Monday's Supreme Court ruling in favor of the tobacco industry at the expense of the Justice Department just left a bunch of tobacco companies off the hook to the tune of a few hundred billion dollars -- but not all tobacco stocks are created equal.

Vudu. JooJoo. Boorah. It almost seems as if companies randomly pick names out of a hat. But you would be surprised at how much actual thought (and money) goes into the process of dubbing a tobacco maker 'Altria' or an instant coffee 'Via.'

A new nationwide poll finds that two-thirds of U.S. voters support a $1 increase in tobacco taxes per pack. The tax could raise more than $9.1 billion in new annual revenue for states, says the report released by a coalition of public health organizations claims.

A Florida woman on Thursday won a $300 million judgment against Altria Group's (MO) unit Philip Morris USA -- the largest award yet among 8,000 lawsuits filed in the state against tobacco companies. Jurors took three hours to return the award to Cindy Naugle, 61, of Ft. Lauderdale, a former smoker...

When 46 states agreed to a $246 billion out-of-court settlement to recover the costs of smoking-related illnesses, they joined the other four that had previously sued and won. In Canada, the province of Ontario now seeks similar compensation from Big Tobacco with its own suit for $50 billion...

Back in June, President Obama signed a law requiring cigarette manufacturers to display health warnings on the top half of cartons, and to cover the top half of the fronts and backs of packages with "color graphics depicting the negative health consequences of smoking." Big Tobacco was not amused....

Altria Group Inc. (MO) posted a decline in first-quarter profit, but earnings from continuing operations actually increased 5.4 percent to 39 cents a share from 37 cents a year earlier. The largest U.S. tobacco company had to walk a fine line in the quarter, increasing prices three times to help...