Recently Bruce Linton, the CEO of Canopy Growth stepped down from his position as CEO and board member of the Canadian cannabis conglomerate. Well, that’s what everyone was told anyway. Linton ended up calling into CNBC early Wednesday morning to say that he did not step down, but was in fact fired.
When referring to the verbiage in the company’s press release, Linton said, “ I think ‘stepping down’ might be the wrong phrase. I was terminated.” Linton co-founded Canopy Growth in 2013 along with co-founder and now sole CEO Mark Zekulin. He made the brand famous for brokering deals with moguls and celebrities such as Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart. Canopy Growth then went on to become the largest publicly traded cannabis company in the world. Last year the company made headlines when beverage giant Constellation Brands, makers of Corona and Modelo made a significant investment in the brand.
Canopy lost huge shares at the end of the fourth quarter of last year, which naturally did not please Constellation, nor Canopy’s board of directors, which now included members of Constellation.
“The magnitude of losses for [Canopy] has expanded far more than we had expected, and while we commend Linton for his vision in establishing the world’s leading cannabis company, we believe new leadership will be a welcome change,” a note to investors said. After Linton stepped down/got fired company stock fell 5 percent. Canopy stock has halfway recovered since then.
What’s next for the largest cannabis company in the world?
Moving forward Zekulin and the board of directors hope to find someone better suited to meet their needs, or probably more accurately Constellation Brands’ needs. Zekulin has said that they hope to find a suitable replacement in the coming year. If I were wagering on this, I would bet that the replacement will end up being someone closely, if not directly associated with Constellation Brands.
Source: CNBC
Image Source: Rolling Stone
What do you think? Was Linton let go justly? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!