As Weed Business Booms, Marijuana Companies Race to Merge
*By Alisha Haridasani*
Recent mergers in the rapidly growing legal weed industry are making it possible for fledgling cannabis companies to consolidate market share as new jurisdictions adopt legal pot.
“We see a great deal of urgency to move very, very quickly,” said Cam Battley, the chief operating officer of the Canadian medical marijuana company Aurora. “This is a brand new industry on a world scale and it’s important to gain that leadership position as quickly as possible.”
Aurora announced Tuesday it had acquired the hemp-based foods company Hempco a day after its $2.3 billion merger with another medical marijuana company, MedReleaf. The combined company has 11 production facilities churning out 570,000 kilograms, or 1.25 million pounds, of marijuana per year in Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Australia.
The Aurora-MedReleaf merger comes as Canada is expected to legalize recreational marijuana later this year, almost two decades after the country made the drug legal for medicinal purposes.
In the United States, four cannabis companies announced on Tuesday that they were combining to form a new company, TILT, which will produce and deliver marijuana products.
The company is betting on more states allowing the recreational use of marijuana soon, said Alexander Coleman, the CEO of TILT.
Coleman said there are 50 unique markets in the United States, and as more states allow recreational marijuana, TILT can go in and build infrastructure for production and distribution based on that individual market's demand and regulations.
For full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/marijuana-mega-merger).
Nestlé has dismissed its CEO Laurent Freixe after an investigation into an undisclosed relationship with a direct subordinate. The company announced on Monday that the dismissal was effective immediately. An investigation found that Freixe violated Nestlé’s code of conduct. He had been CEO for a year. Philipp Navratil, a longtime Nestlé executive, will replace him. Chairman Paul Bulcke stated that the decision was necessary to uphold the company’s values and governance. Navratil began his career with Nestlé in 2001 and has held various roles, including CEO of Nestlé's Nespresso division since 2024.
Kraft Heinz is splitting into two companies a decade after they joined in a massive merger that created one of the biggest food companies on the planet. One of the companies will include brands such as Heinz, Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft Mac & Cheese. The other will include brands like Oscar Mayer, Kraft Singles and Lunchables. When the company formed in 2015 it wanted to capitalize on its massive scale, but shifting tastes complicated those plans, with households seeking to introduce healthier options at the table. Kraft Heinz's net revenue has fallen every year since 2020.
