Ecigarette maker moving out of S.F.

it faces multiple federal investigations and falling sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Juul’s valuation has crashed from $38 billion in a partial ownership sale to tobacco company Altria in 2018 down to $12 billion in January — before the pandemic struck.

The vaping company is headquartered in a historic, cityowned building at Pier 70 next to San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. It also bought a downtown tower at 123 Mission St. for nearly $400 million last year. But after its fortunes plunged, the company has sought to sell the building. A Juul spokesman said last week that there was no progress to announce on the sale efforts.

San Francisco lawmakers have been incensed by Juul’s presence at a cityowned building and allegations that the company helped introduce numerous underage users to nicotine. The Board of Supervisors banned ecigarette sales last summer until the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reviews the products. Juul unsuccessfully tried to repeal the ban in a ballot measure last fall, though it backed away from the ballot measure before the vote.

The Journal reported that Juul’s move was fueled in part by its “inhospitable home.”

Juul declined to comment on Monday.

Other major companies shifting headquarters out of San Francisco include Charles Schwab, which is merging with TD Ameritrade and moving to a combined headquarters in Texas. The financial payments company Stripe, one of the most valuable private startup in the world, is moving to South San Francisco. Stripe cited the city’s high cost and scarcity of office space, and it also opposed Proposition C in 2018, which raised the city’s gross receipts tax. Chronicle assistant business editor Kate Galbraith contributed to this report.