Origo Acquisition Corp. (OACQ)

[LJ Silver]

Excerpt from December 14th, 2018 interview with Adam Levin
https://www.benzinga.com/markets/cannabis/18/12/12853552/high-times-ceo-adam-levin-talks-big-acquisition-wider-m-a-strategy-i
LJ

Picking Up Teams
This is High Times’ fourth acquisition in 2018. In April, the company acquired Green Rush Daily for around $7 million in cash and stock. In June, it bought CULTURE magazine from Southland Publishing. And in September, High Times paid $11.2 million for Dope Magazine.

Related Link: High Times Buys DOPE Magazine For $11M: Here's Why And What It Means For The Cannabis Industry

“With our acquisition of the different media brands, such as Dope, Culture and Green Rush Daily, we were able to pick up different assets. Whether it’s sales teams, writers, different forms of distribution,” Levin said. “Today we have around 9 million unique [readers] and we cover more than 80 percent of the cannabis consumers in the market today."

The acquisitions help High Times expand its presence in the states where cannabis is legal to some degree.

“We now have a sales team of 30-plus people and some presence in every state where there is some form of cannabis. As our company continues to grow, the synergies are obvious. When we add ‘the Big Show’ we are just adding another media product that we will be able to sell through our entire sales force," Levin said.

More Opportunities For Advertisers
High Times’ sales force is turning into a “distribution machine,” Levin said.

Acquiring more publishing brands means that High Times can provide more venues for advertisers, he said. Even though all the publications the company has acquired so far are cannabis-focused, the audience crossover is smaller than expected, he said.

“Each brand has its own specific demographic. With Dope, we only had an audience crossover of almost less than 50 percent," the CEO said. “50 percent of Dope’s advertisers have not advertised in High Times. And now we are going to find different services ... that we can offer as trusted partners to these businesses.”

Levin said he expects High Times to start offering new services for cannabis companies in the near future.