The Cannabis Billionaire Who Would Be King

Let’s face it, we Americans love the Royals, their foibles, scandals and even their basement-bound house staff.

So why not a Russian aristocrat who burst onto the U.S. cannabis scene with heretofore unequaled pizzaz?

Boris Jordan is the owner of the world’s largest and wildly successful cannabis company, Curaleaf Holdings CURLF, which Substack contributor Betting Bruiser views “as a one-man army full of foot soldiers and yes men,” though she is not without praise for the billionaire who founded it. 

“The unique opportunity of transitioning existing industries to wholly different regulatory frameworks has been uncharted waters for every cannabis executive, perhaps except for Boris," wrote Bruiser.

"Privatizing formerly Soviet state-owned entities gave him crucial experience in working with investors, capital markets, and regulatory stakeholders, along with an explicit understanding of just how profitable it is.”

As one of the major success stories among the growing list of publicly-traded cannabis companies, what concerns some “has been the fact that all the decision-making power lies with Boris Jordan.” 

Jordan is “dead on point 90%+ of the time," said the Substack contributor who referred to this particular one as the “King of Cannabis Legalization” - a statement that many in the anti-prohibition movement might refute.

Are Curaleaf’s shareholders going to be Boris Jordan's kingmaker? 

Jordan’s indisputable influence over his own company will be confirmed (or not) in a proxy vote scheduled for Sept. 9 in which Boris’ powers lie within his 93 million-plus super-voting shares of Curaleaf.

Boris has 72% of the voting rights as of the last MIC because his multiple voting shares vote at a rate of 15-1. The multiple voting share block as of the last MIC holds 69.2% of the voting power. Even though they vote at 15:1, they only convert at 1:1, pointed out Substack.

Then there is Curaleaf’s "Sunset Clause," which under normal circumstances would require Jordan to convert his multi-voting shares and abide by the sunset clause.

Converting all his multiple voting shares at a 1:1 rate to subordinate voting shares would decrease Jordan’s voting power to well below majority control, making Jordan “a king amongst the peasants but without a crown.

“The royal persona that Boris Jordan has worked so hard to curate has come about by Curaleaf rising to become the kingdom of kings of the PotStocks world. But all will be lost in the end if Boris cannot secure the votes,” wrote Bruiser, who pointed to federal legalization of cannabis as key to Jordan's future, on many levels.

"While Curaleaf may not remain to be the biggest Cannabis company forever. Boris Jordan is currently large and in charge. Even if BoJo has achieved billionaire status and stands to gain financially more than any other investor from federal legalization. Let the King of Cannabis Legalization have his glory."