Canopy CEO: We'll 'Disrupt the Heck' Out of Pharma
*By Carlo Versano*
At the end of a week that saw the nascent cannabis sector soar to record valuations (with enough [volatility](https://cheddar.com/videos/making-sense-of-tilrays-stock-chart) to make your head spin), at least one exec isn't getting high off his own supply.
Bruce Linton, CEO of Canopy Growth ($CGC), told Cheddar Friday that he is focused on using a recent $4 billion cash injection from Constellation Brands to accelerate his business operations as new markets open up for legal marijuana use.
The market for legal pot went from a handful of countries like Canada, where Canopy is based, to now over 30 globally, Linton said in an interview, and Constellation's stake "is the kind of rocket fuel we need."
As speculators send the stocks higher ー Canopy is up 100 percent since the August deal, while Tilray ($TLRY) is up 1,000 percent since its July IPO ー Linton is keeping his nose to the grindstone developing new uses for cannabis, illustrated by the 39 patents Canopy filed in the last year just for sleep-related cannabinoid products. He sees other uses as well, from anxiety to sports recovery, which begs the question: is Canopy a pharma company?
"We're going to have enough intellectual property and activity that it would be difficult for pharma companies...not to need to play with us," Linton said. "We're going to disrupt the heck out of them."
Speaking of disruption, Linton said he wasn't bothered by parallels with the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s. He said Canopy had more in common with a Google or Amazon ー established businesses with strong fundamentals ー than any of the internet stocks that were relegated to the tech boneyard after the bubble popped.
But for an industry like cannabis that is entirely dependent on regulation, there will always be a risk, Linton noted. For every country like Canada, which legalized medical marijuana in 2001 and will allow recreational use starting October 17, there's an Italy ー where medical marijuana is legal but heavily restricted ー or a Japan ー where it is strictly outlawed. Put another way, Canopy may have the best legal pot cultivation and distribution in the world, but its long-term success on a global scale may be capped by shifting regulatory and political climates.
Still, Linton sees the writing on the wall in places like South America, Australia, and the EU. As regulatory barriers come down, he said Canopy's strong production operations will lead the market.
"People can fight for who's going to be the second best," Linton said. "We're going to be the best and the largest and the most dominant on the planet over the next decade."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/canopy-growth-blazing-a-trail).
Amazon is betting that ammonia could be the fuel of the future, participating in a Series A round for the Brooklyn-based company Amogy in December. Amogy aims to de-carbonize transportation with a clean energy system that uses ammonia as a renewable fuel. Amogy is partnering with Amazon on its first commercial product - an ammonia-powered cargo-shipping vessel. Amogy CEO Seonghoon Woo joins Cheddar Climate to discuss.
Joseph Pallant, Founder and Executive Director for the Blockchain for Climate Foundation, joins Cheddar Climate, where he discusses the among of energy crypto mining consumes and explains how his organization is on a mission to make the crypto industry more environmentally sustainable.
One of the world's largest transport companies is kicking off Black History Month with a new initiative aimed at the next generation of business leaders. Today, FedEx announced the launch of its Student Ambassador Program. Participants selected from eight historically black colleges and universities will receive career guidance from FedEx executives. The program is part of FedEx's ongoing commitment to HBCUs and will also help the company expand its pipeline for diverse talent. Cheddar News welcomes senior vice president at FedEx, Jenny Robertson, and Jerryl Briggs, President of Mississippi Valley State University, to discuss.
Driver assistance monitoring systems are meant to keep the driver's eyes on the road, but according to a report from AAA, different ways of monitoring provide significantly different results. The study found that direct camera-based systems that scanned the driver's eye movements were faster and more reliable than those indirect systems that looked at steering-wheel input. Megan McKernan, the manager of automotive services for the Automobile Club of Southern California, joined Cheddar to discuss the findings. "Triple-A is recommending that automakers include both direct and indirect systems just to really prevent consumers from trying to misuse these systems," she said, noting that neither system on its own is not foolproof.
"Sing 2" has overthrown "Spider-Man: No Way Home" as the number one film at the UK box office. The animated sequel brought in $8.1 million, in just its two first weekends. However, "No Way Home" is still on track to beat "Avatar" as the number one grossing movie of all time.
Pinterest recently added augmented reality to its portfolio. The image sharing and social media platform's new e-commerce tech will allow consumers to interact with retailers and visualize online products inside their homes.
On this episode of Cheddar Reveals, Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, breaks down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics; Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, discusses the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Predicting a Pro'.
Jim Riordan, Director of the MBA Sport Management program at Florida Atlantic University, joins Cheddar Reveals to break down the successes, failures, and chaos of the first seven months of the Name, Image, Likeness policy in college athletics.
Adi Kunalic, President of Opendorse, joins Cheddar Reveals to discuss the first-ever association-wide deal in college athletics between Opendorse and the NAIA, and how Opendorse is marketing and educating student-athletes to make the most of their NIL deal potential.
