Weedmaps Goes Public through Reverse Merger with General Cannabis

Weedmaps Goes Public through Reverse Merger with General Cannabis
Posted December 08, 2010 8:23AM PST
Marijuana dispensary advertising website Weedmaps became a publicly traded company through a reverse merger with General Cannabis, formerly known as LC Luxuries. General Cannabis plans to expand in managing medical marijuana clinics and providing internet technology services to the industry.

General Cannabis also signed closing documents to acquire all the assets of Synergistic Resources, doing business as Marijuana Medicine Evaluation Centers, which specializes in the turn-key management of medicinal marijuana clinics throughout California, General Cannabis announced in a statement Monday.

LC Luxuries, a Nevada-based company with headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif., officially began trading on the Pink Sheets as General Cannabis Inc. on Nov. 19 under the new ticker symbol CANA. Its stock was trading at $4.05 on Dec. 6. Jim Pakulis serves as chief executive.

It also closed on the acquisition of Weedmaps, an online directory of medical marijuana clinics, on Nov. 19. General Cannabis bought the domain from co-founders Justin Hartfield and Keith Hoerling for 16.4 million shares of common stock and $3.6 million in promissory notes, according to a financial statement. Hartfield and Hoerling were also hired as chief web officer and chief technology officer respectively, each earning $30,000 per month, according to the statement.

Weedmaps, which charges clinics to appear in the directory, reportedly claimed in October to have 50,000 members and monthly revenues of $400,000.

"Weedmaps is a tight-knit group of creative engineers, a technology think-tank at the core, and fusing with General Cannabis builds a more holistic synergy of talent that better positions us to serve our industry as it matures," said Hoerling in a Nov. 19 news statement.

General Cannabis plans to create multiple vertical operational and business-to-business services in the market that will create new ancillary businesses, according to Pakulis.

"The acquisition of Weedmaps, and the addition of Hartfield and Hoerling to the intellectual and creative process of General Cannabis will create a wealth of innovation that this Company intends to develop as it redefines this industry," he said in the news statement.

Synergistic Resources is also being purchased with a combination of cash and stock, Monday's statement said. Founder Brent Inzer is being hired for business development. Inzer said the company, which receives more than 500 calls a day at its call center, will be overseeing at least 20 clinics by the end of 2011.

In October, before the name change, LC Luxuries' subsidiary U.S. Cannabis, entered into a letter of intent with Synergistic Resources to assume all marketing and advertising responsibilities for 10 clinics in California.


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