More On: cannabis
Marijuana stocks surge as investors bet on a more weed-friendly US
Therapeutic cannabis: The specifications for future drugs have been published
‘Growing Belushi’ goes inside Jim Belushi’s cannabis empire
Clint Eastwood sues over claims he’s leaving Hollywood to sell CBD
Dan Bilzerian’s pot venture burned through $50 million last year
Dan Bilzerian’s new pot company may soon go up in smoke. The latest venture from the hard-partying, self-proclaimed “King of Instagram” — Ignite International, which sells a smorgasbord of weed-related products — burned through $50 million last year. Ignite lost $43 million on expenses related to marketing and promotion as well as office leases alone, …
Dan Bilzerian’s new pot company may soon go up in smoke.
The latest venture from the hard-partying, self-proclaimed “King of Instagram” — Ignite International, which sells a smorgasbord of weed-related products — burned through $50 million last year. Ignite lost $43 million on expenses related to marketing and promotion as well as office leases alone, according to its annual filing first reported on by Forbes.
The Canada-based company’s $22 million marketing budget was more than double its annual sales revenue. That cash went toward throwing lavish Ignite-branded parties with free-flowing booze and scantily clad women.
Indeed, Ignite appears to have footed the bill for Bilzerian’s gun-toting, private jet-flying playboy lifestyle, paying him a salary as well as the travel expenses of other companies he owns.
Bilzerian’s Instagram feed is littered with photos of him on yachts, private jets, playing chess while surrounded by stacks of cash and even posing with a massive gun with the Ignite logo carved into its side.
Ignite sells a wide range of products, from water bottles and vodka to THC vape pens and CBD oils. Forbes’ cannabis reporter, however, wrote that he has never encountered a product from Ignite in the wild.
The company, which began trading publicly in Canada in January 2019 and trades under the BILZF ticker, has seen its stock value plummet more than 70 percent in the ensuing year and a half, to 70 cents.
Bilzerian is no stranger to losing money. The 39-year-old entrepreneur recently lost a book deal with Simon & Schuster because he was too busy partying to deliver a manuscript, Page Six reported last month.
