Forbes October 3, 2023
The most courageous act in modern business history may be the decision by CVS Health nearly a decade ago to quit selling cigarettes.
In what seemed like the blink of an eye, CVS walked away from $2 billion in revenue and hundreds of millions in profit. Remarkably, when CVS quit selling cigarettes, many Americans who relied on CVS as their supplier quit smoking altogether.
The move coincided with the company’s shift into more direct provisioning of healthcare services—and sent a strong message to employees and external stakeholders that CVS was truly in the business of health. “The sale of tobacco products is inconsistent with our purpose,” said then-CEO Larry J. Merlo.
Since then, other retail companies have scaled back their...
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