Today, Canopy Growth Corporation and Bruce Linton announced that Bruce will step down as co-CEO and Canopy Board member. The company said that Mark Zekulin has agreed to become the sole CEO of the company and will work with the Board to begin a search to identify a new leader to guide the company in its next phase of growth, which will include both internal and external candidates. Rade Kovacevic, a long-serving member of the team currently leading all Canadian operations and recreational strategy will assume the role of President. These changes are effective immediately.
The decision came after Constellation Brands - which made a $5 billion investment in Canopy last August - expressed displeasure with the firm's year-end results.
In the press release by the company, Linton stated that “Creating Canopy Growth began with an abandoned chocolate factory and a vision. The Board decided today, and I agreed, my turn is over.”
In an interview to BNN Bloomberg, Linton said that he is not upset with being ousted from the company he co-founded. "The good news is I’m getting older. If I was 27 I’d probably be pissed off and upset. I’m 52, and this isn’t the first time I’ve been fired for being the entrepreneur after five or six years of creating value. My guess is: [Canopy]’s going to do really well and if it was totally dependent on me, it’s probably screwed anyhow.”
However, in another interview on Wednesday, Linton said: "I did not wish to leave. I was asked to leave and I left under the terms that we mutually agreed to... This is not an expected change, and not one I necessarily welcome, but it's not going to be bad for the company."
For more information:
Canopy Growth Corp.
1 Hershey Dr.
Smiths Falls, Ontario
K7A 0A8
1 855 558 9333 x 122
invest@canopygrowth.com
canopygrowth.com