Civilized publisher Derek Riedle (right) talks with Martha Stewart and former Canopy Growth CEO Bruce Linton at the 2019 World Cannabis Congress in Saint John. (Image: World Cannabis Congress, Facebook)
New Frontier, the Washington-based company that is acquiring Saint John and Los Angeles-based Civilized says it’s too early to tell whether or not the cannabis media company will have a future in Saint John.
New Frontier, which offers data analytics to the cannabis industry, announced last week that it will be moving ahead with their acquisition of Civilized, adding that they will be halting all operations and laying off all staff while it addresses “areas of improvement.”
The layoffs affected nine employees in Saint John and seven in Civilized’s Los Angeles office.
New Frontier said that Civilized will resume operations in January as part of a new combined entity. New Frontier founder and CEO to Giadha Aguirre de Carcer said in a statement to media on Thursday that it’s “too soon to say” if Civilized will have operations in Saint John.
“We are moving now from the acquisition due diligence process into the development of a shared strategic and capital plan for 2020,” read the statement. “We cannot offer specifics until then.”
Civilized aims to engage cannabis consumers, influencers and multinational brands with niche and mainstream content, access to exclusive events, and an informed cannabis lifestyle experience. As of Friday, its website and social media pages were still online.
In Saint John, Civilized organized two major events, the Moonlight Bazaar and the World Cannabis Congress. Though it didn’t address the Moonlight Bazaar, New Frontier’s statement did address the success of the World Cannabis Congress but said it’s too early to confirm anything about the event’s future.
“Again, it is too soon to say. From a branding and engagement perspective, the World Cannabis Congress (WCC) and other events from Civilized have been tremendous successes,” read the statement. “In 2019, the WCC drew the top industry thought leaders, presented 76 speakers and welcomed more than 2,000 applicants and invited guests from all over the world.”
The statement went on to say that industry events will likely be a part of the company’s future as the industry continues to grow.
“As lucrative cannabis markets continue to emerge in North America and around the world,” it said. “We only expect demand to grow for high-quality industry events such as the World Cannabis Congress and look forward to putting the right plan in place to ensure the long-term success of this and other Civilized events.”
The financial terms of the deal between Civilized and New Frontier were not disclosed.
