Thirsty: Weed company CEO really wants to get bought by beer company
Sometimes when you’re looking for a partner, you’ve just gotta shoot your shot.
Ben Kovler, the CEO of cannabis company Green Thumb, did just that, The Wall Street Journal is reporting. On Sunday, Kovler wrote the chairman of Boston Beer, the maker of Sam Adams, pitching a potential merger that would allow this new combined company to spark new ideas in pre-rolled joints, edibles, drinks.
The likelihood of a deal doesn’t seem very high given weed is still illegal at the federal level, though it has been gaining ground in states across the country. It wouldn’t be a cheap buy, either: Canada-based Green Thumb trades over-the-counter with a market cap around $2.5 billion, while Boston Beer sits at roughly $3.6 billion, with a couple hundred million in cash on its balance sheet. And the “please buy me” cold call doesn’t work too often in the land of deals.
Meanwhile, Boston Beer has been dealing with its own potential suitor – WSJ reported last week that Japanese whisky producer Suntory was in early talks to potentially acquire the beer maker. Interestingly, sometimes swallowing up a smaller company to make yourself a more expensive merger target can work to dampen the interest of an unwelcome suitor.
The likelihood of a deal doesn’t seem very high given weed is still illegal at the federal level, though it has been gaining ground in states across the country. It wouldn’t be a cheap buy, either: Canada-based Green Thumb trades over-the-counter with a market cap around $2.5 billion, while Boston Beer sits at roughly $3.6 billion, with a couple hundred million in cash on its balance sheet. And the “please buy me” cold call doesn’t work too often in the land of deals.
Meanwhile, Boston Beer has been dealing with its own potential suitor – WSJ reported last week that Japanese whisky producer Suntory was in early talks to potentially acquire the beer maker. Interestingly, sometimes swallowing up a smaller company to make yourself a more expensive merger target can work to dampen the interest of an unwelcome suitor.
