Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs paying $185 mln for cannabis stores

Cresco Labs Inc. and Colombia Care Inc. on Friday confirmed plans by rap music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs to pay up to $185 million for licensed cannabis companies in New York, Massachusetts and Illinois. The Wall Street Journal initially reported the transaction. The deal will create the first multi-state cannabis operator owned by a minority. Combs would acquire stores on the selling block as a result of the pending all-stock merger between Cresco Labs and Colombia Care. The deal includes four retail stores and one production asset in New York State; three retail stores and one production facility in Massachusetts and two retail stores and one production asset in Illinois. Combs said Blacks are underrepresented in the cannabis industry despite decades of being disproportionately arrested for cannabis law violations. “It’s diabolical,” Combs told The WSJ. “How do you lock up communities of people, break down their family structure, their futures, and then legalize it and make sure that those same people don’t get a chance to benefit or resurrect their lives from it?” The AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF is down 58.4% in 2022 compared to a 33.9% loss by the Nasdaq .

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