Contrary to the popular belief that Jay-Z’s cannabis brand Monogram is tied to The Parent Company amid the latter’s massive failure, the hip-hop legend and his company haven’t been linked to the latter for the last couple of years.
TMZ reports that a source revealed
“Jay-Z stepped away years ago and it just went up in a mess.” They’ve been officially separated since December of 2022 and The Parent Company is owned by another LLC.
News broke recently that The Parent Company had some serious money issues. Reports have surfaced that the company suffered a $587 million net loss in 2022 — after it was expected to gross upwards of $300 million in its first year back in 2020 and had $575 million in funding before the company burned through it.
Back in 2020, The Parent Company went public as a merger of three different cannabis corporations. Jay-Z was named Chief Visionary Officer at the company, with his Monogram brand’s joints as the company’s primary luxury offering.
Problems started nearly immediately, with the “OG Handrolls” form of marijuana costing $50 per one. That’s expensive when the average weed smoker can find a regular joint for no more than $5.
“Like many other things we’ve seen in cannabis surrounding rappers, the hype hasn’t met the reality. 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,” said Seth Yakatan, a cannabis investor, to SFGate (about the company).
In 2023, The Parent Company merged with another California cannabis company — Gold Flora — to stay afloat. The Parent Company became a minority owner in its own company by only taking a 49 percent share of the new corporation.
Gold Flora, to mention, is dealing with its issues, too. It posted over $56 million in losses in 2024 so far and has more than $63.5 million in debt.
Say what you want about Jay-Z, but he knows when to get out before the trouble starts in the world of business.
He got out before it got really bad. | Complex Read More
