Brian Sozzi | The Street
After years of being anti drugs, Kiss front-man Gene Simmons is now bullish on pot.
“I was judgmental, I was dismissive and a little arrogant — I was wrong [on cannabis],” Simmons told TheStreet. Simmons says he did research on cannabis and decided to change his tune. A boatload of cash probably helped Simmons’ decision-making process, too.
Simmons said he was paid $2.5 million in cash to serve as Chief Evangelist Officer for upstart cannabis growing company Invictus. He also snagged a $10 million stake of the company in the deal. Pretty smoking hot transaction for Simmons, who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $300 million.
According to Invictus CEO Dan Kriznic, the Canadian-based company is fresh off an $80 million capital raise that valued Invictus at about $200 million
“There is a ton of consolidation right now in the space, and it’s likely to continue,” Kriznic said. Kriznic added Invictus is not in any discussions for a deal at the moment.