Cannabis data analytics company New Frontier is moving forward with its acquisition of cannabis media company Civilized and have laid off all 16 employees and halted all operations as it addresses “areas of improvement,” according to a report from Huddle. The layoffs affected all nine employees at Civilized’s Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada headquarters and all seven at its Los Angeles, California office.
New Frontier founder and CEO to Giadha Aguirre de Carcer said that Civilized would resume operations next month but could not offer specifics about what the company would look like going forward. Aguirre de Carcer said that it’s “too soon to say” if Civilized would have operations in Saint John or Los Angeles.
In a statement to Huddle, New Frontier said they while Civilized has had “tremendous success” with events – such as the World Cannabis Congress – the company wasn’t sure whether they would continue with the events.
“As lucrative cannabis markets continue to emerge in North America and around the world 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.” – New Frontier, in a statement to Huddle
The news from New Frontier is the latest shakeup in the cannabis media space. In late October, the majority of DOPE Magazine’s Seattle editorial team was laid off by High Times – which acquired DOPE last year – and the office was shuttered. High Times CEO Kraig Fox called the move a “strategic decision” but noted that some employees had accepted positions at the company’s Los Angeles headquarters. Less than two months after the layoffs, Hightimes Holding Corp., said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that there was “substantial doubt” about whether the company would continue operations.
Last week, cannabis social media network MassRoots went dark after years of raising capital, losing money, and problems at the very top of the company.
Hightimes Holding also bought Green Rush Daily and CULTURE magazine last year for $7 million and $4 million, respectively.
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