Medmen Enterprises is cutting more than 190 jobs, the Chicago Tribune reports. The layoffs come about a month after the firm terminated a $682 million merger with PharmaCann.
The first cuts affected 80 corporate employees as the company looks to break even next year. It’s part of a five-part plan that includes selling some assets, consolidating its corporate offices in Los Angeles, California, and slow opening some locations. Medmen lost $79 million during the 12 months that ended on July 29.
Zeeshan Hyder, chief financial officer, said the firm reassessed their business and “realized that the best way for us to generate long-term value is by narrowing our scope and focusing only on our core markets where we have operating leverage and economies of scale.”
Morningstar analyst Kristoffer Inton told the Tribune that cannabis dispensaries are, “a tough business.”
“You are trying to purchase weed and try to sell it,” he said in the report. “It’s kind of a cost-plus kind of business.”
“We don’t see anyone else doing cost-cutting. That isn’t usually a good sign. If I saw any one (of the publicly traded cannabis companies) trying to save on costs, it would be shocking to me.” – Inton to the Tribune
Currently, Medmen operates 32 dispensaries in nine states, including one of the 14 Illinois dispensaries that were approved for “same-site” adult-use cannabis sales at their location in Chicago.
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