How Investing In Cannabis Almost Took Down Scotts Miracle-Gro

The gardening giant bet $1.7 billion on lighting, nutrients and other pot cultivation tools—and lost. But CEO Jim Hagedorn and his son Chris are plotting a comeback. Here’s how they plan to smoke the competition.

Back in 2015, when only four states—Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington—had legalized recreational marijuana, Hawthorne started spending hundreds of millions acquiring companies like General Hydroponics (for $120 million), a Santa Rosa-based indoor gardening supply company, to get into the marijuana industry’s ancillary market.

The move helped the Hagedorns grab glossy magazine headlines and Scotts’ stock price started to rise from the mid-$50 range to above $60 a share. By May 2021, the company acquired more cannabis-focused companies like Luxx Lighting (purchased for $213.2 million), a grow-light company started by the founders of respected weed brand Jungle Boys, and brokered a $150 million convertible debt deal with Canadian cannabis investment vehicle RIV Capital. Scotts’ stock bloomed to a robust $244.

Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2024/01/12/scotts-miracle-gro-cannabis-1-7-billion-dollars-hawthorne-james-hagedorn-chris-hagedorn/?sh=1027de5013bf

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17 Comments

  1. @Self_Made_Genetics on September 25, 2024 at 7:39 pm

    They lost out because no one will ever associate with miracle gro



  2. @hommie422 on September 25, 2024 at 7:41 pm

    There’s only one F-bomb and they don’t have it at any dispensary



  3. @ThaSilentOne420 on September 25, 2024 at 7:46 pm

    Growers and smokers despise MGrow and their products . When they started buying up all the companies . We just spread the word and quit buying from those companies



  4. @papapapist on September 25, 2024 at 7:49 pm

    These idiots thought they knew what they were doing in a black market trade. 🤦‍♂️ they hired chads who didnt know a damn thing about the industry



  5. @CarlosFandango73 on September 25, 2024 at 7:51 pm

    That was a tornado, not an F16



  6. @gabrieljohnson1854 on September 25, 2024 at 7:57 pm

    How dare you say weed kills! Cannabis healed my back pain.



  7. @alphaomega8373 on September 25, 2024 at 8:02 pm

    Because people realize how horrible it is to grow with Miracle grow.



  8. @TheeThunderGod on September 25, 2024 at 8:05 pm

    I always wondered what happened to Luxx, I used to love their bulbs.



  9. @michaelmcgrath7042 on September 25, 2024 at 8:08 pm

    Read that as “cannibalism” for a dyslexic second.



  10. @ww.fisherboys6124 on September 25, 2024 at 8:12 pm

    I still grow every other grow with Miracle Grow, that Power Bloom formula is Awesome…..I use Gaia Green too….. ❤ your Stuff #ScottsMiracleGrow



  11. @richardp2309 on September 25, 2024 at 8:13 pm

    AssO



  12. @rexleidig3412 on September 25, 2024 at 8:16 pm

    Chad a rokkstar



  13. @swampwiz on September 25, 2024 at 8:17 pm

    Yes, this was a terrible investment. While there will be a few home-growers – in a similar way that there are homebrewers – most cannabis customers just want to buy the product. And just like anything else in the globalized economy, there will be some places that will have an economic advantage – in the world of cannabis, that means places with lots of insolation, good source of water, and good altitude so as to keep the bugs away (and thus not have to use pesticide). The best places in the world are thus near the equator and in mountain valleys that the prevailing weather keeps sunny. Indeed, there is a company, CLVR, that has used this as its business plan, but as well concentrating on getting global-tier certifications so that they are ready to be imported by markets around the world.

    A good investment is one that has a nice moat around it – and CLVR is just a company, as these certifications take a lot of capital cost, but more importantly, time. Once Big Pharma or Big Tobacco wants to get into this business, CLVR will sitting there as a jewel from which to dominate the market, at least for a few years.



  14. @alyxiastarling7990 on September 25, 2024 at 8:18 pm

    All that infrastructure could always be used for food so its not worthless but they should be diversified farmers instead of cash cropees.



  15. @willalfano8 on September 25, 2024 at 8:18 pm

    no sympathy



  16. @seant2808 on September 25, 2024 at 8:21 pm

    Hawthorn has been for whatever reason associated with Monsanto. Both companies need a rebrand and focus if they want to survive in a carbon based future.



  17. @123sheag on September 25, 2024 at 8:22 pm

    idk how someone loses money in something that costs about the same as a tomato to grow. tomatoes sell for $2 per pound about and cannabis sells for about 800 times as much