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Once a leading marijuana stock, the Canadian cannabis company has pivoted to craft beer and is trying to prevent being delisted on the Nasdaq. Inside the move from buds to suds.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2025/05/02/why-one-time-cannabis-darling-tilray-is-now-high-on-beer-irwin-simon-interview/

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Transcript
00:00today on forbes why one-time cannabis darling tilray is now high on beer
00:08in july 2018 tilray the canadian-based cannabis company went public on the nasdaq becoming one
00:15of the first weed firms to list on a big u.s exchange on its first day of trading shares
00:21jumped 35 percent and tilray became the first beloved pot stock a few months later tilray
00:28hit 214 dollars per share valuing the startup which had 27.7 million dollars in revenue at the time
00:36at 17 billion dollars an all-time high but shares have been in a painful decline ever since after
00:44seven years of no meaningful movement at the federal level to legalize marijuana in america
00:49and brutal competition in canada's small cannabis market tilray's stock price has now dropped below
00:56one dollar recently trading at 49 cents last month the nasdaq sent the company a warning that
01:03it could be delisted erwin simon who became ceo of tilray in 2021 after the company merged with
01:11another canadian cannabis company afria which he was ceo of at the time is well aware that his
01:17company's stock price is in the toilet and he believes he has a plan to fix it simon who oversaw
01:24tilray's acquisition of more than a dozen craft beer and spirits brands over the last few years
01:29says he is quote not nervous about getting delisted because he expects shareholders to approve a
01:35reverse stock split in july which would bring the share price over a dollar again simon who founded
01:42haynes celestial group in 1993 an organic food company he took public and grew into a three billion dollar in
01:48annual sales business oversaw the merger of afria and tilray four years ago the deal which valued the
01:56combined company at nearly four billion dollars was structured as a reverse acquisition of tilray
02:02each afria shareholder received approximately 0.8 tilray shares worth six dollars 20 cents at the time
02:09for each afria share they owned despite its market woes tilray remains one of the biggest cannabis
02:16producers in the world growing about 170 metric tons of marijuana each year which is sold across 20
02:22countries from canada to europe to australia it cannot sell marijuana in the u.s due to federal law
02:30after acquiring eight craft beer companies from anheuser-busch and four from molson cores it is
02:35also now the fourth largest craft brewer in the u.s with regional brands that include new york's montauk
02:41brewing george's sweetwater and colorado's breckenridge brewery tilray also owns colorado-based blended
02:49bourbon whiskey maker breckenridge distillery overall revenues were 788 million dollars last year but
02:56tilray somehow managed to lose 222 million dollars albeit mostly due to non-cash expenses although the
03:04company is losing heaps of money it has 230 million dollars in cash and has trimmed its losses from a
03:10staggering 1.4 billion dollars in 2023 thanks to simon's string of acquisitions a strategy he says
03:18is due to his fear of being a quote one trick pony tilray is no longer just a cannabis company he
03:24cringes at the word weed and points to tilray's 80 million dollar in annual sales medical marijuana
03:30business tilray sells a total of 275 million dollars of cannabis when recreational sales are included
03:36he wants investors to believe that the brand which derives 60 percent of its revenue from
03:42selling cannabis and beer is really a diversified pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods company
03:48with a focus on quote bringing people together for a good time last year 35 percent of tilray's revenue
03:55came from marijuana while 25 came from its alcohol division tilray also operates a pharmaceutical
04:02distribution business in europe which delivers its medical cannabis as well as other medications to
04:07pharmacies and is responsible for 33 percent of its revenue the company's wellness division features
04:13hemp-based food brands like manitoba harvest and brings in about seven percent of the company's revenue
04:19pivoting to alcohol has helped diversify tilray's revenue but ironically legal weed has been hurting
04:25beer sales in the u.s according to the brewers association craft beer production decreased four percent in 2024
04:33over the prior year the third consecutive decline as consumer preferences continue to change simon concedes
04:41cannabis does ultimately cannibalize alcohol sales if i get cannibalized on one end i want to be in the
04:47business that's cannibalizing for full coverage check out will jakowitz's piece on forbes.com

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