Leafly forced to let go 18% of its staff

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Cannabis companies are having to pull back as adoption is taking longer than expected

Even the best companies have more than once faced situation in which difficult decisions were made. This is the case for Leafly, which has made the decision to cut its working force by 18%. The cannabis media company terminated the working relationship with 54 employees, according to Leafly, to adjust its operations “with the market realities of the technology and cannabis sectors.”

According to a statement published in GeekWire, Tim Leslie, Leafly CEO said, “Today is a hard day at Leafly. We wish our colleagues the best as they pursue the next steps in their careers. We look ahead to continued innovation in service of our customers and the cannabis industry.”

Leslie took the lead of the company after the removal of Chris Jeffery; he was a former executive for Amazon Prime Video. This company has been working independently since February 2019 when it was spun off Privateer Holdings. It was previously expected that Leafly was going to be slowing down its pace regarding hiring new employees and that it would need to make cuts in its budget. Last year alone, Leafly hired 150 employees doubling up the firm’s size, but is now moving away from “a banner year for innovation” when the Leafly Cannabis Guide and Leafly Market were released, leading to the expansion of Leafly’s pick-up service.

“In 2020, you can expect Leafly to deliver even more innovation in helping people learn about, find and buy cannabis while empowering the businesses of retailers, doctors, and brands,” Leslie said in the statement. It seems to be a trend among media cannabis companies, as the popular magazine High Times recently laid off the staff from DOPE magazine and Civilized magazine also laid off all its employees after an acquisition deal.