Bruce Linton, a well-known figure in the cannabis industry, is out at Canopy Growth Corp., MarketWatch reports this morning.
Linton is being replaced by Mark Zekulin, who was previously a lawyer at Cassidy, Levy, Kent Candida LLP, according to online bio profiles.
“Creating Canopy Growth began with an abandoned chocolate factory and a vision,” Linton reportedly said. “The board decided today, and I agreed, my turn is over.”
In other remarks, Linton indicated that his replacement by an outside party was an ouster made after bad fourth-quarter earnings.
Last year, Linton made headlines with his defiance of lackluster cannabis performance after Canada legalization, saying that it would just take time for the market to respond and evolve.
“For a long time, they just said ‘it’s marijuana; we can’t look into it,’” he said in October of last year, going over what he painted as much larger institutional involvement to come. “They see it as a global disruptor.”
It’s interesting to note that at the time, CGC was right around where it is now ($40,) though the stock subsequently went to $45 before bottoming out later in the year. The eventual fruits of the legalization to the north, it might be said, were relatively unfruitful, at least for CGC.
Now there’s a stranger in Linton’s seat, and CGC pricing stands well under 52-week highs near $60 but above 52-week lows under $30.
More recently, CGC spiked near $44 in May, and again in late June, before slumping down to its current value around $40 this morning.
Pre-market trading saw shares fall 3.89% last night.
CGC is trying to ameliorate the fallout with the acquisition of a bio-product extractor known as KeyLeaf Life Sciences, with Linton advising that KeyLeaf “deliver(s) instant scale at a pivotal stage in our growth” and looking long-term at industry potential.
Keep the CGC ticker in your sights if you have skin in the game in the cannabis industry.
