Jay-Z’s luxury weed company facing uncertain future amid financial difficulties
Jay-Z‘s luxury weed company Monogram is reportedly under threat of going under.
Hov launched the business back in 2020, but the company is struggling to sell its $50 joints after losing half a billion dollars.
According to the Daily Mail, the giants behind it, The Parent Company (TPCO), have apparently gone through most of the $575 million launch cash and merged into another firm, Gold Flora, which SFGate says is also experiencing financial worries.
Gold Flora recently revealed it suffered a $56 million loss with debts of $60 million more than it has in assets. In addition, the company has been sued for not paying invoices, allegedly owing a cannabis farm over $200,000.
Jay-Z was named chief visionary officer at TPCO, with Monogram serving as the company’s luxury offering. The company sells pre-rolled joints and cannabis buds in stylish black packaging, with its “OG Handrolls” item costing $50 – ten times the average price in the state of California.
Upon launching, TPCO board member Michael Aurbach stated that the company would “dominate and consolidate the market … It will be hard for any smaller player to compete with us.” Monogram’s website shows nine retailers between California and Arizona, but none of them actually list Jay-Z’s items.
Cannabis expert Seth Yakatan told SFGate that the campaigns they launched in 2020, promising a premium cannabis experience, cost TPCO “mind-boggling amounts of money.”
“Like many other things we’ve seen in cannabis surrounding rappers, the hype hasn’t met the reality,” Yakatan said. “Monogram was supposed to be an ultra-premium product, and I don’t know anyone who tried it and thought it was anything more than mid-tier.”
Jay-Z previously partnered with Caliva to become the cannabis company’s chief brand strategist in 2019. His role involved increasing legal participation in the marijuana industry for people who served prison time on weed-related charges.
“Anything I do, I want to do correctly and at the highest level,” he said in a press release. “With all the potential in the cannabis industry, Caliva’s expertise and ethos make them the best partners for this endeavour. We want to create something amazing, have fun in the process, do good and bring people along the way.”