Cheddar's Cannabiz explores the latest trends, and businesses looking to capitalize on the growing cannabis market. Cheddar's Baker Machado and Brad Smith speak with investors, business leaders, and legislators in this episode.
In the last few days several officials have announced efforts to reverse marijuana-related convictions. San Francisco's District Attorney George Gascón announced the dismisscal of more than 3,000 marijuana convictions dating back to 1975. Cheddar's Baker Machado spoke to Gascón about that decision, and the reaction he is receiving from other cities.
Recreational marijuana has been legal in California since January 1 and since then cannabis stores like MedMen in West Hollywood have been a significant bump in sales and foot traffic. Alyssa Julya Smith visited the MedMen location in West Hollywood one month after the store first started selling recreational marijuana.
Yi explains that month-to-month MedMen has been triple the amount of foot traffic and revenue in January as they had from December. He explains that more people than ever before are buying edibles and trying different forms of cannabis.
Private equity firm Privateer Holdings is looking to pioneer the future of the legal cannabis industry. The company closed a $100 Million funding round in January to further its investment in cannabis start-ups. Privateer Holdings CEO Brendan Kennedy describes how the company is planning to use this new surge in funding.
"A lot of the opportunities that we are looking at right now are outside of the United States," says Kennedy. "We'll deploy more than half of this round outside of the U.S. where we see Canada this year legalizing Cannabis for adult use."
Agricultural technology company VividGro announced Tuesday it has acquired a home grow marijuana app. The company's President David Friedman explains how this acquisition is helping VividGro expand its footprint in the horticulture industry especially for weed.
"This gives us access to the home grow market, which is a quicker and more rapid penetration point," says Friedman. "Eventually we will grow into the commercial side of the market."
Wealthfront’s CFO Alan Iberman talks the $2.05B IPO and the major moment for robo banking as the company bets on AI, automation, and “self-driving money."
A rare magnum of Dom Pérignon Vintage 1961 champagne that was specially produced for the 1981 wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana has failed to sell during an auction. Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen handled the bidding Thursday. The auction's house website lists the bottle as not sold. It was expected to fetch up to around $93,000. It is one of 12 bottles made to celebrate the royal wedding. Little was revealed about the seller. The auction house says the bids did not receive the desired minimum price.
The New York Times and President Donald Trump are fighting again. The news outlet said Wednesday it won't be deterred by Trump's “false and inflammatory language” from writing about the 79-year-old president's health. The Times has done a handful of stories on that topic recently, including an opinion column that said Trump is “starting to give President Joe Biden vibes.” In a Truth Social post, Trump said it might be treasonous for outlets like the Times to do “FAKE” reports about his health and "we should do something about it.” The Republican president already has a pending lawsuit against the newspaper for its past reports on his finances.
OpenAI has appointed Slack CEO Denise Dresser as its first chief of revenue. Dresser will oversee global revenue strategy and help businesses integrate AI into daily operations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently emphasized improving ChatGPT, which now has over 800 million weekly users. Despite its success, OpenAI faces competition from companies like Google and concerns about profitability. The company earns money from premium ChatGPT subscriptions but hasn't ventured into advertising. Altman had recently announced delays in developing new products like AI agents and a personal assistant.
President Donald Trump says he will allow Nvidia to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!” There had been concerns about allowing advanced computer chips into China as it could help them to compete against the U.S. in building out AI capabilities. But there has also been a desire to develop the AI ecosystem with American companies such as chipmaker Nvidia.
