Philip Morris To Change Name to Altria (Published 2001) (2024)

Philip Morris, the owner of one of the world's best-known corporate names, plans to change that name next year to the Altria Group, company executives said yesterday.

The new name, which is subject to approval by shareholders at the company's annual meeting next April, is drawn from the Latin word ''altus,'' meaning ''high,'' and is supposed to suggest high performance, said Steven C. Parrish, the company's senior vice president for corporate affairs, in an interview at the company's headquarters in New York.

The two tobacco companies under the Philip Morris umbrella, Philip Morris U.S.A. and Philip Morris International, will keep their names as will the food company Kraft Foods and the Miller Brewing Company, which are also owned by the consumer products conglomerate. But Philip Morris has not yet decided whether to change its stock symbol, the iconic MO.

''Call for Altria'' doesn't have the ring of the company's ''Call for Philip Morrrrrr-isssss!'' slogan from radio's golden age. But that might be the point. The company has taken this action, its executives say, to reduce the drag on the company's reputation that association with the world's most famous cigarette maker has caused.

''When people say 'Philip Morris,' people don't know which company you're talking about,'' Mr. Parrish said. ''We're more than a tobacco company, obviously, but there are a lot of people who don't understand that.''

''They are running away from tobacco,'' countered David A. Kessler, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration and now the dean of the medical school at Yale University.