Jay-Z’s luxury cannabis company Monogram has been struggling to sell $50 joints, reportedly resulting in the rapper’s business losing half a billion dollars since it was launched in 2020.
“Four years later, it looks like this splashy celebrity cannabis brand has already disappeared,” reported SFGATE, pointing out that Monogram’s website lists nine retailers — eight in California and one in Arizona — but none of them list the rapper’s products on their online menus.
The conglomerate behind Jay-Z’s cannabis company, The Parent Company, has reportedly burned through half a billion dollars after initially starting with $575 million in cash. It has since merged with another company, which also appears to be in financial trouble.
While the launch of Jay-Z’s brand had been one of the most hyped stories in the cannabis industry, Cannabis investor Seth Yakatan told SFGATE that The Parent Company had been spending “mind-boggling” amounts of money, and that the “Empire State of Mind” rapper’s pricey products failed to live up to the hype.
Notably, the Parent Company had previously insisted that they were going to “dominate” the industry.
“We’re going to dominate and consolidate the market,” The Parent Company board member Michael Aurbach boasted in November 2020, noting that the company had $575 million in cash. “It will be hard for any smaller player to compete with us.”
Jay-Z had also been named chief visionary officer at the business, with his Monogram brand being listed as The Parent Company’s luxury product, offering pre-rolled joints and cannabis flower in lustrous black packaging at lavish prices.
Notably, a single joint had a price tag of $50, while other companies were selling the same product for just $5.
Monogram had reportedly claimed its prices were justified because its joints were hand-rolled with premium flower. Nonetheless, Yakatan said the luxury cannabis received negative reviews across the board.
“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.”
While The Parent Company expected to be making $334 million in revenue within its first year, those earnings failed to come to fruition. In 2022, the business reported a staggering $587 million net loss while its stock price plummeted.
By 2023, The Parent Company was forced to merge with Gold Flora, another cannabis company in California. The company then took a 49 percent share of the newly formed business, becoming a minority owner in its own company.
“Gold Flora itself appears to be on life support,” SFGATE reported, citing the company’s more than $56 million in losses so far this year, as well as it having $63.5 million more in debt than it has in assets.
Cannabis farm Coastal Sun, meanwhile, is suing Gold Flora for $202,000, claiming the company has failed to pay its bills, whiles its chief financial officer Darren Story says Gold Flora appears to be in a “debt death spiral.”
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
