High Times, other pot publications in danger of shutting down

Hightimes Holding warns investors is may not be able to continue operations after stalled IPO

The cannabis industry may be booming, but publishers looking to cash in keep going up in smoke.

Hightimes Holding, which publishes the 45-year-old High Times magazine, warned shareholders in its latest SEC filing that it may not be able to continue operations.

“Because of recurring operating losses, net operating cash flow deficits, and an accumulated deficit, there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern for one year from the issuance of the financial statements,” the company said.

High Times has snapped up rival publications, including Dope, Culture and Green Rush Daily, and runs marijuana-themed concerts and events, but its crowdsourced IPO has stalled. It recently hired Toronto-based Lazer & Lazer to search for a new backer as it tries to dig out of $105.2 million in debts.

In its most recent earnings report, Hightimes Holding incurred a net loss of $11.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, on revenue of $10.7 million.

High Times is not alone. Civilized, which counted comedian Chelsea Handler as an investor has been taken over by New Frontier Data after burning through about $10 million in investment money, according to cannabis.net.

The website MassRoots, which raised over $20 million and managed to pull off a successful IPO in the past, has apparently gone dark in recent weeks, according to a report on cannabis.net. Its stock was trading at one third of a penny in the over-the-counter market on Thursday. MassRoots said on Nov. 15 that it was unable to file its third-quarter earnings report in a timely fashion. In the last quarterly report for the three months ending June 30, the company posted a net loss of $774,638 on net revenue of only $18,366.

CEO Isaac Dietrich insisted to Marijuana Business Daily recently that “our website will be back online shortly.” But when Media Ink tried calling the phone number listed in SEC documents, we heard a recording saying the call could not be completed. Dietrich had not responded to e-mails by press time.

This report originally appeared on NYPost.com.