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Emerald Acquires MJBiz, A Leading B2B Event & Content Platform For The Cannabis Industry

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NEW YORK:  Emerald Holding, Inc. announced that it has completed the acquisition of MJBiz, the leading event producer and content platform serving the wide range of companies operating in the large and rapidly growing cannabis industry. The addition of MJBiz further accelerates Emerald’s strategy of delivering 365-day customer engagement while also enhancing its portfolio optimization efforts by providing a preeminent platform to expand into one of the highest growth business sectors in North America. 

MJBiz Acquisition Highlights:

  • Founded in 2011, MJBiz produces MJBizCon, the oldest and leading B2B cannabis trade show in America, the Emerald Conference and related media brands including MJBizDaily, Hemp Industry Daily and MJBiz Magazine.
  • In 2021, MJBiz’s revenues were approximately $27 million, which were near pre-pandemic levels.
  • MJBizCon is a top trade show in the cannabis industry having featured more than 1,200 exhibiting companies and 27,000 attendees, including over 18,000 paid registrations, at the October 2021 event, rivaling pre-pandemic levels.
  • The MJBiz platform delivered 38% compound annual revenue growth in the three years prior to the pandemic (2017-2019). In addition to operating the leading cannabis industry trade show, the MJBiz brand is the leading source for actionable business intelligence in the cannabis industry.
  • MJBiz management, including CEO Chris Walsh, Senior Vice President of Events and Sales, Jess Tyler, and Senior Vice President of Content and Audience Development, Pam Moore, will continue to lead the day-to-day operations of the business utilizing their exceptional knowledge and experience in the event and content platforms.

Hervé Sedky, Emerald’s President and CEO, said, “This is a transformational acquisition for Emerald as it represents an important next step in the implementation of our strategic initiatives and underscores our commitment to evolve and grow our customers’ businesses 365 days a year.”

Mr. Sedky added, “We have long admired MJBiz’s sterling reputation for being the most trusted event and content producer serving the business side of the cannabis and hemp industries and their respective participants. MJBiz’s leading event and content portfolio coupled with their 365-day engagement platform, which connects the entire cannabis supply chain, will diversify our collective product offerings, enhance our growth profile and enable us to deliver even greater value to our customers over the long term.”

Cassandra Farrington, MJBiz Cofounder and Chair of its Board, commented, “Our organization has experienced massive growth since its inception, initially as a how-to resource to help dispensary owners run their businesses better, into our position today as the leading commercial resource for the cannabis sector. Integrating with a larger organization provides the additional resources and channels to unlock the next phase of MJBiz’s growth and is the right next step in our evolution as a business. We chose Emerald because they clearly value the unique aspects of our brand and are committed to serving the industry’s expansion.”

Emerald paid $120 million as initial consideration upon closing of the transaction, with potential future payments contingent on the performance of MJBiz through 2022.

MJBiz was exclusively represented and advised by Jeff Gruenhut and John McGovern of Grimes, McGovern & Associates.

MJBiz co-founders and Board members, Cassandra Farrington and Anne Holland, will continue to consult with the business.

MJBiz’s next events include the Emerald Conference, February 27-March 1, 2022, in San Diego, CA at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort, and MJBizCon, November 15-18, 2022, in Las Vegas, NV at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

‘Nurse Heather’ Is Bringing Cannabis Education To A Mainstream TV Audience

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CALIFORNIA: For more than a dozen years, Nurse Heather has been on the cutting edge of medical cannabis education.  Beginning April 20th, 2021, she’ll be taking that knowledge, and her cannabis nurses’ perspective, to a mainstream TV audience in her new role as host of “Nurse Talk”  — one of three on-demand programs debuting on 420MEDIA’s ANewCannabisChannel.com

Each episode of Nurse Talk will feature one-on-one  conversations with leading cannabis nurses, doctors, patients, pioneers, and celebrity athletes, exploring answers to common questions about medical cannabis, with a particular focus on understanding the endocannabinoid system, cannabinoid therapeutics, and dosing.

MJNews’ David Rheins had an opportunity to sit down with Nurse Heather this week for an exclusive conversation, during which she explained that her relationship with the plant began as a teenager, where like so many she was introduced to marijuana as a recreational social lubricant.  It was only many years later, as a practicing healthcare professional, that Nurse Heather discovered the powerful medicinal benefits of medical cannabis. A knowledge that she learned directly from from her cannabis-using patients — not through nursing school, professional education, or other healthcare professionals who remained largely ignorant and skeptical of the plant.

As that firsthand patient and clinical experience grew, Nurse Heather began to share that knowledge with other healthcare professionals, and soon became a “go to resource,” public speaker and community leader, picking up the appellation “Cannabis Nurse Heather” along the way. 

Nurse Heather was invited to join an New Mexico dispensary license, assuming the responsibility of sharing with the dispensary staff all she had learned along her journey. She immersed herself on a mission to learn everything she could about the science of cannabis, participating at conferences like Patients Out of Time, Marijuana for Medical Professionals where first discovered the endocannabinoid system.

That knowledge blew “the top of my head off” she told MJNews, “I couldn’t unlearn it, and as a matter of fact I had to share it. It became a passion of mine to help educate my colleagues.”

“Nurse Talk” will debut on April 20, 2021, available for on-demand via Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android and iOS.

Meet The Fresh Toast Power Duo JJ McKay and Eric Snow

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By David Rheins

I had the opportunity to sit down with JJ McKay, the founder and publisher of The Fresh Toast and his president, Eric Snow this week.  The two, along with New York-based Editor Kelly Barbieri, have launched a new lifestyle website targeting the “canna curious” — the 85% of America who consume cannabis, but don’t who don’t identify with High Times or Dope.

[Our audience] “are people who read the Huffington Post, USA Today, eat at Cheesecake Factory and drink artisanal liquors, ” JJ McKay explained.  “These are the people who read BuzzFeed and Bustle,” Eric Snow added.

As legalization attracts new consumers back into the marijuana marketplace, advertisers and investors are paying attention.  The company has raised $2 million, mostly from friends and family, and is seeking to raise another $600k-$800k.

In a wide-ranging conversation at The Fresh Toast offices in downtown Seattle, we talked about the launch of the site, the upcoming “marijuana elections”, and how legalization is changing the culture, and creating a demand for a mainstream cannabis lifestyle media play.

Listen to the entire interview, available exclusively here on Marijuana Channel One:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYiMpVGrQPM&w=560&h=315]

Merry Jane To Serve As Executive Producers Of MTV’s New Series “Mary + Jane”

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CALIFORNIA: Pot-driven media platform Merry Jane is the new executive producer of MTV’s new cannabis scripted television show, “Mary + Jane”.

“Mary + Jane” was created by executive producers and writers, Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (“Can’t Hardly Wait”). Entertainment 360’s Guymon Casady (“Game of Thrones”), Marcus Blakely and Jill McElroy serve as executive producers. Snoop Dogg and Ted Chung from Merry Jane serve as executive producers. In addition, Snoop Dogg wrote and performs the series’ theme song.

“Merry Jane is proud to be, once again, the forefront innovators for a counter culture changing the mainstream,” said Co-Founder Ted Chung. “Cannabis is the new rock n roll…the new hip-hop…and Merry Jane is the leading voice for the culture online, with countrywide live-events, and, now, on global television networks.”

The single camera, half-hour comedy about Jordan (Scout Durwood) and Paige (Jessica Rothe), two twenty-something best friends who run an all-female cannabis delivery service in Los Angeles. Filled with funny, raw and bizarre adventures, the show explores the uncharted territory as Los Angeles comes out of the Green Closet and gets into high and higher.  “Mary + Jane” premieres on MTV, Monday, September 5th at 10 p.m.

“It’s super cool and relevant that our new show with MTV, “Mary + Jane”, is about a female delivery service,” said Snoop Dogg. “When you’re down with the green, this is our diverse lifestyle and the world we live in. The Merry Jane team is working on more and more dope content. It’s time to sit back, light one, and enjoy this ride.”

Marijuana Media On Fire As Legalized Pot Gains Popularity

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CALIFORNIA:  The next time you open a magazine you could find an ad for cannabis filling the pages. Media focusing on cannabis is on the rise as the spread of legalization has created a demand for cannabis industry news.

Last month, for example, a local San Francisco magazine premiered filled with stories about pot-friendly politicians and even included a comic book strip starring a joint smoking dinosaur named Budzilla. The free publication, the SF Evergreen, is a bet by the company that owns The San Francisco Examiner that people will want to hear the latest news and stories related to marijuana.

“We think it’s well past time for an industry of this size to have media dedicated to it,” said Chris Roberts, SF Evergreen’s editor.

The SF Evergreen is just one of the latest in a recent boom in marijuana related media that has emerged from the black market as the use of plant gains more legitimacy.