The Board of Directors of Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE: MO) today voted to authorize the spin-off of all shares of Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) owned by Altria to Altria's shareholders. The distribution of the approximately 89% of Kraft's outstanding shares owned by Altria will be made on March 30, 2007, to Altria shareholders of record as of 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on March 16, 2007 (the "record date").
Altria will distribute approximately 0.7 of a share of Kraft for every share of Altria common stock outstanding as of the record date, based on the number of Altria shares outstanding on that date. Altria shareholders will receive cash in lieu of fractional shares for amounts of less than one Kraft share. The exact distribution ratio will be determined on the record date.