Marlboro to cut the number of salaried workers

Marlboro maker Altria Group Inc. said Thursday that it will cut the number of salaried workers at its cigarette business and related service subsidiaries by 15 percent as cigarette sales continue to decline industrywide, the Washington Post reports.

The owner of the nation’s largest cigarette maker, Philip Morris USA, announced plans to trim $400 million in annualized costs by the end of 2013 as it reported quarterly earnings Thursday, which would include about $300 million in employee separation costs and additional reductions in spending.

Altria, based in Richmond, Va., would not say how many people would be impacted by the layoffs. The company said employees that will lose their jobs will be informed by mid-December and most will leave the company by late February. The reductions announced Thursday do not include hourly manufacturing workers.