The surprise ousting of the chief executive officer of Canada’s foremost cannabis company is a sign of things to come, some observers warned Wednesday, as the young industry grapples with investor impatience in the face of what has so far been disappointing financial results.
“I think there has been some frustration from their biggest shareholders that Canopy has not been producing the kind of numbers that everyone was expecting and things needed to change. I think we’re going to see a lot more executive changes across the industry going forward,” said Greg Taylor, chief investment officer of Purpose Investments, which runs the Purpose Marijuana Opportunities Fund.
Hamish Sutherland, CEO, White Sheep Corp. Over his tenure at the company, Linton orchestrated countless mergers and acquisitions, including Constellation’s entry into the cannabis space, a $150 million investment to build a hemp facility in New York State, and most recently, the $3.4 billion option to purchase multi-state operator Acreage Holdings, the largest American cannabis company by market value at the time.
But Neil Selfe, a long-time friend to Linton and financial advisor to Canopy in both the Acreage and Constellation deals characterized Linton’s ouster not so much as investor impatience but a move by Constellation’s new CEO to “put a mark on both Constellation and Canopy.”