Canopy Growth Corp.'s venture with Drake to sell recreational cannabis and accessories in Canada and abroad has "not been progressing as originally intended," the company's chief executive said.
Canopy announced its joint venture with the Canadian born hip-hop superstar in November under the More Life Growth Co. moniker. Under the arrangement, Drake will control 60 per cent of the company, with the pot giant owning the remaining stake and having the right to nominate two members to the venture’s board. Part of that deal was to provide More Life with use of Canopy's production facility in Scarborough, Ont., which the new venture would operate and maintain.
However, since the initial announcement was made, little work has been done to progress the More Life brand, with Canopy chief executive officer David Klein focusing on restructuring the pot giant's costs and on pursuing more promising ventures.
"I would say that More Life has not been progressing as originally intended and we're still working on details to determine where it goes," Klein, who formally took on the CEO role in January, told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview.
"It may be something that can't get to where we all want it to go. In many regards, at its essence, it's almost a real estate play where More Life is going to do a lot of activity on cannabis destinations. I don't know if that still fits anybody's way of thinking, at least in the COVID world."
A representative from Drake's management team wasn't immediately available for comment.
Along with Drake, Canopy has carved out a niche in partnering with high-profile personalities such as Martha Stewart, Seth Rogen, and Snoop Dogg. All this comes despite restrictions in the Canadian market that prevent celebrities from endorsing its cannabis products. Canopy plans to launch its first CBD products via its partnership with Stewart next month in the U.S., Klein said during a call with a***ysts on Monday.
Canopy is ensuring it doesn't run afoul of Health Canada's regulations by ensuring that the celebrities it has partnered with remain at arms-length in regards to marketing. For example, Canopy renamed its "Leafs by Snoop" brand to "LBS" while Rogen has yet to comment publicly on his Houseplant venture since it was launched in March 2019.
Still, Klein is hopeful that the company will find a way to salvage the More Life venture.
"I wouldn't say it would be dropped entirely, but it might change," Klein said. "When I looked at the IP that Canopy has on its plate, I will admit that More Life was pretty far down the list of things to get to.”
"Make no mistake about it, we love Drake, but we're still trying to figure out a business venture that makes sense for everybody."
bnnbloomberg.ca/now-we-re-where-canopy-drake-joint-venture-not-progressing-as-intended-1.1478131
For those that were wondering what was happening with his weed business
Damn, I was really looking forward to this. Hope it happens eventually 🙏 hmu to get the design process rolling Drake, Oli, etc...
So, this flopped before it even started or the CEO of the company never had any plans to have it take off?
Aka COVID happened and our business is booming because of it so who cares about a Drake
Lol I f*** w it tbh I dont think this venture should be legal in our country. The only reason why celebrities are able to do this rn is bc of a loophole
Damn, I was really looking forward to this. Hope it happens eventually 🙏 hmu to get the design process rolling Drake, Oli, etc...
This clean af
Damn, I was really looking forward to this. Hope it happens eventually 🙏 hmu to get the design process rolling Drake, Oli, etc...
this is amazing
Did you peep the strain names? 👀
yup, what potential reasons could you see CANOPY & OVO having business disagreements on that would block this from happening?
Damn, I was really looking forward to this. Hope it happens eventually 🙏 hmu to get the design process rolling Drake, Oli, etc...
this s*** is fire af!!!!!!
wonder what happened
Damn, I was really looking forward to this. Hope it happens eventually 🙏 hmu to get the design process rolling Drake, Oli, etc...
Your stuff is dope af
40 in the business too, he’s doing his own thing it looks like
wonder what happened
Could be possible Drake hasn't put enough effort into it since he has 60% control but sounds like it was started without having enough of a plan in place
Could be possible Drake hasn't put enough effort into it since he has 60% control but sounds like it was started without having enough of a plan in place
Hope they work past it cause this has a lot of potential
Cannabis market is pretty messed right now alot of these greenhouses are slow af rn afaik
Cannabis market is pretty messed right now alot of these greenhouses are slow af rn afaik
they are + i think i think the cannabis market (canada) in general is overpriced heavily considering they are losing market in some provinces.
This was a shell company guys. We gotta clean the money 🤫
“I’m mixing the dirty bills in with the profit, clean that s*** up & I give it right back to ‘em”
This looking like it might be dead in the water, bout to be 2 years since they announced
This looking like it might be dead in the water, bout to be 2 years since they announced
Yeah this ain't happening lol. Drake probably doesn't want to f*** with 40's Bllrdr bag
Yeah this ain't happening lol. Drake probably doesn't want to f*** with 40's Bllrdr bag
Doubt it was this. It falling apart had nothing to do with what 40 had going on and if Drake is determined to make this work, he will. It may be that he's just lost interest in getting into the weed world but he could always take the idea to another company.
Doubt it was this. It falling apart had nothing to do with what 40 had going on and if Drake is determined to make this work, he will. It may be that he's just lost interest in getting into the weed world but he could always take the idea to another company.
Doubt it would be a sole factor in it not working out but it could definitely play a part. Drake can do whatever he wants but why go through the difficulty of setting up a new weed company when your close friend has one you can promote?