MJ Biz Daily has put together a list of marijuana CEO’s and their income from last year.
10 of the top CEO’s were making over a million dollars once stock options were included, with the largest packages reaching $4.5 million (Cresco Labs).
Of the 15 examined, only one company was headed by a white female, the rest were by white males.
There is also question as to how accurate these compensation summary tables are, with some things being left off and some put on separate pages, including equity awards.
Fred Whittlesey is a marijuana compensation expert who says he could put together a “lengthy piece on all of the errors and incorrect disclosures in cannabis companies … there seems to be an industry-wide disregard for accuracy in securities filings.”
“If a company is not willing to provide full transparency on executive pay to all stakeholders, we need to question why that is.”
The highest paid CEO from last year was Charlie Bachtell of Cresco Labs. Most of his pay came from a grant of 1.5 million stock options, but that was put on a separate page in the filing, and didn’t have an estimated value.
Curaleaf has yet to report earnings from last year, although that’s expected to rank pretty high on the list.
Earnings reports like these point to a potential of the marijuana business already being out of control and solely in the hands of the select privileged few at the top of the heap.
This all makes any aspects of social equity difficult to attain in a federal legalization bill, considering many companies with lobbying power are ingrained in the lack thereof.
Read the full story over at MJ Biz Daily.
