Constellation Brands, the company that has graced the world’s brewski drinkers with Corona and Modelo, has paid $191m for a 9.9% stake in the marijuana producer, Canopy Growth.
With a $1.93B market cap, Canadian-based Canopy Growth is the largest legal marijuana producer in the world, supplying almost half of the nation’s medical-weed heads with their product.
Why would a beer company want to get into weed?
According to Constellation Brands CEO Rob Sands, most of it has to do with the importance of “identifying early-stage consumer trends.”
The odds of weed getting legalized nationally in the US are becoming more likely by the day, and the beer monster wants to get a “first-mover advantage.”
In other words, they want to get a piece of that weed pie before they’re the only ones at the party not stoned.
And the company is leaning in
While many beer industry staples like Budweiser are worried about what the legalization of this hip new buzz tool will do to their beer sales, Constellation Brands is already looking to work with Canopy to create, market, and sell weed-infused beverages.
That being said, Sands claims his company won’t plan to sell any weed-infused products stateside until mother nature’s silly trees are legal nationwide.