This backing gave Syqe financial muscle and strategic reach—but also raises reputational and strategic risks, given tobacco’s fraught public perception in the health space. Imagine if McDonald’s bought into a regenerative kale farm. The cash infusion could scale production, but people would always wonder if the lettuce was being served with a side of fries.
Hoping to get into the cannabis business one of the world's largest cigarette companies Phillip Morris has taking a sharp turn toward cannabis by buying the Israeli medical cannabis inhaler and dosage device Syqe. The deal is worth $650 million.
Newspapers like Bloomberg are calling the newly “legalized” cannabis business in the United States the next gold rush. If legalized throughout the US, the cannabis business will eclipse wine. That’s something worth about $40 billion a year. So “prospectors”, inventors and investors there are laying down their stakes and claiming access to new territory. […]