*By Jacqueline Corba*
MedMen, an American cannabis company based in Los Angeles, began trading on the Canadian Stock Exchange on Tuesday, earning a valuation of $1.1 billion.
"Today is day one," co-founder and CEO Adam Bierman said in an interview with Cheddar. "There is nothing quick in regards to anything having to do with our industry. This is a long play."
MedMen has 18 licensed facilities in California, Nevada, and New York. The company recently opened a medical marijuana dispensary on 5th Avenue in Manhattan with a high-tech and minimalist design that has prompted comparisons with an Apple store.
But unlike tech companies, even legal cannabis companies in the United States don't have access to institutional capital. That's why MedMen had to go to Canada.
"They are the second American cannabis company to do it, they are not going to be the last," said Greg Zeman, associate editor at Cannabis Now. "Everybody is looking for capital and affordable capital is not in heavy supply down here, and it is pretty abundant when you get up to Canada. It's like any rushーeveryone is trying to get in it now."
With an infusion of capital from the company's public listing ー six percent of the company was opened up for public sharesー MedMen's Bierman said the company will expand its retail operations and open new growing facilities. And maybe sometime in the future, the company could be listed in New York and Bierman can ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
"Prohibition will end here in the U.S.," Bierman said. "Bureaucracy is there for a reason, I don't think we want to change laws overnight here in this country. I think its good it goes through a process and takes time."
The next cannabis company to go through a similar process may be Orchid Essentials. That company's co-founder, Corey Mangold, told Cheddar's CannaBiz he plans to take his company public on the Canadian stock market in the fall.
Mangold laments the fact that he can't list his company in the United States, but said he was confident that change is coming to medical and recreational use of marijuana.
"It's time that we grab a hold and make a change that is long overdue," Mangold said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
Chipmaker Nvidia is poised to release a quarterly report that could provide a better sense of whether the stock market has been riding an overhyped artificial intelligence bubble or is being propelled by a technological boom that’s still gathering momentum.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
