It was another attempt to force the company to spin off its food business immediately from its tobacco operations.

For one, many of these investors bought their bonds on the assumption that the company had both food and tobacco operations.

In the first, tobacco operations would be split from the company's nontobacco units.

A variant of this plan would also split off the international tobacco operations from domestic distribution.

According to the company's segment reports, the tobacco operations reported a 19 percent profit margin last year.

Despite this, farmers have asked governments to reduce the financial losses of moving away from profitable tobacco operations.

Those concerns, he added, "have caused the markets to value the tobacco operations at about six to seven times earnings.

The staff reductions may not be directed solely at the tobacco operations.

The issue is seen as a way to spin off its tobacco operations.

That type is first class, which includes the priority service preferred by many of these tobacco operations.