MJBiz acquired by Emerald Holding for $ 120 million

Denver-based MJBiz, known for its online B2B news and business content, has been acquired by Emerald X. Emerald, a subsidiary of Emerald Holding, a media and events company based in New York, acquired MJBiz for a total of $ 120 million.

The acquisition includes MJBizCon, MJBizDaily, Hemp Industry Daily, MJBiz Magazine and The Emerald Conference, which MJBiz acquired in 2020. According to Hervé Sedky, President and CEO of Emerald, this acquisition will be very beneficial to his company. “We have long admired MJBiz’s excellent reputation as the most trusted event and content producer for the business side of the cannabis and hemp industries and their respective attendees. MJBiz’s leading event and content portfolio, coupled with their 365 day engagement platform that connects the entire cannabis supply chain, will diversify our joint product offerings, improve our growth profile and enable us to offer our customers an even higher level over the long term Value to offer. ”

Chris Walsh, CEO of MJBiz, also announced that this move represents the growth of the cannabis industry. “This really highlights the rapidly growing interest in cannabis from every corner of the business world, the tremendous potential of the market and the success of not just MJBiz but the industry as a whole,” said Walsh. “We see these types of cannabis deals as breakthrough companies like ours to more effectively tap and fuel the next wave of industry growth.”

The most recent MJBizCon event took place from October 19-22, 2021 and attracted around 27,000 attendees and 1,200 exhibitors at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Nevada. The event boasts of being one of the largest and longest-running cannabis business events, celebrating its 11th anniversary in 2022, with an expected attendance of up to 30,000. The date of the event is provisionally on 15.-18. November 2022. The Emerald Conference is scheduled to take place between February 27 and March 1, 2022.

Emerald works on over 142 events and 16 media projects spanning a variety of markets including design, equipment, retail, security, and technology. The Outdoor Retailer Snow Show, International Pizza Expo, Modern Day Marine, Retail Innovation Conference & Expo, Las Vegas Antique Jewelry & Watch Show, to name a few events, are all hosted by Emerald.

According to MJBizDaily, the current team of around 40 employees will continue to operate under the new ownership, while Emerald has over 600 employees. CEO Chris Walsh, Senior Vice President of Events and Sales Jess Tyler and Senior Vice President of Content and Audience Development Pam Moore have all been confirmed to continue working in the day-to-day business of MJBiz.

Co-founders Cassandra Farmington and Anne Holland will also continue to consult. MJBiz co-founder Cassandra Farmington is confident that MJBiz’s acquisition by another company will only strengthen both companies. “Our organization has seen massive growth since its inception, initially as a guide to helping pharmacy owners run their businesses better, until today it has achieved our position as the premier commercial resource for the cannabis sector,” said Farmington. “The integration into a larger organization provides the additional resources and channels to unlock the next phase of MJBiz’s growth and is the right next step in our development as a company. We chose Emerald because they clearly value the unique aspects of our brand and are committed to serving the expansion of the industry. “

However, aside from the acquisition amount of $ 120 million, MJBiz states that the earnout is based on future financial performance, which is calculated as “an amount equal to the average MJBiz EBITDA for the past two years minus $ 13 million – multiplied by 9 , 3 “is calculated. Emerald’s CFO anticipates that earnout could run to $ 30 million to $ 50 million in early 2023.