By Monterey Bud

 

Damien Marley, the youngest son of Bob, and a private equity firm specializing in buyouts, Oreva Capital, have acquired a controlling interest in High Times magazine.

Founded the year Richard M. Nixon was forced to resign, High Times was recently valued at $70 million and is responsible for establishing the Cannabis Cup in Amsterdam and Colorado – as well as The High Times Medical Cannabis Cup held in medical marijuana states.

A go-to publication for all things cannabis in the early 70s, Marley and Oreva viewed the former High Times organization as “ill-equipped to roll up the massive opportunities for expansion,” according to TechCrunch.

“The best chance for High Times to fire up some more revenue could be expanding the Cannabis Cup to more states as legalization rolls across the US. Designed as a trade expo for local pot dispensaries and quality contest for growers, there are already 58 Cannabis Cup events each year.”

Rebranded as High Times Holding Company (HTHC), for their $42 million Oreva Capital and Damien Marley will get a controlling interest in High Times’ websites, publishing rights, and their marijuana-centric trade shows and competitions.

Oreva Capital founder Adam Levin believes the company can elevate the new HTHC brand’s current earnings of just “$.17 per user,” pointing out that both Weedmaps and Leafly earned approximately “$60 per user” annually.

Paying deeply for its “236,000 print subscribers” and reported “20-million” unique monthly visitors, Marley and his consortium of 420-entrepreneurs may want to consider some critical information disseminated in an April article from the Denver Post.

“Overall, The Cannabist hit 797,000 total unique visitors in the reporting period, a 30 percent increase over the same month a year ago. About 63 percent of its audience was between 18 and 34 years old. That figure was ahead of High Times’ 588,000 and behind the 1 million pulled in by the WeedMaps-owned Marijuana.com.”

With what seems like dramatically overstated viewership and an interest in cashing out, industry insiders have been hearing rumblings of a potential sale to a hedge fund for months.  In a letter written by Levin to the HTHC family, he seemed rather optimistic about the company’s future. “As cannabis adoption comes of age and gains more mainstream acceptance – High Times will be among the only brands people already know and will continue to be the trusted voice they turned to.”

Freshly rehabilitated, a quick tour of their site finds their old synthetic marijuana ads finally gone. Now focusing on competitions, lifestyle, and dispensaries, HTHC looks to elevate their annual “revenue between ticket sales and sponsorships,” which accounts for 75% of their revenue each year.