Sean 'Diddy' Combs to buy marijuana shops, production facility in Massachusetts
WORCESTER - Sean "Diddy" Combs is making a big move into the cannabis industry with a multi-million dollar deal that will have local ramifications.
The rap and hip-hop mogul is buying marijuana shops and production facilities in three states - including Massachusetts. Combs announced he intends to acquire retail stores from Cresco Labs and Columbia Care in Worcester, Leicester and Greenfield, as well as a production facility in Leicester.
Cresco, which bought the Worcester and Leicester dispensaries from Cultivate last year and uses the brand name Sunnyside, says it is the top branded cannabis wholesaler in the nation. The $185 million agreement would "create the largest Black owned business in cannabis."
"My mission has always been to create opportunities for Black entrepreneurs in industries where we've traditionally been denied access, and this acquisition provides the immediate scale and impact needed to create a more equitable future in cannabis," Combs said in a statement. "Owning the entire process - from growing and manufacturing to marketing, retail, and wholesale distribution - is a historic win for the culture that will allow us to empower diverse leaders throughout the ecosystem and be bold advocates for inclusion."
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Combs spoke to the obstacles Black entrepreneurs face when trying to break into the cannabis business, such as difficulty accessing financing services.
"It's diabolical," Combs told the newspaper. "How do you lock up communities of people, break down their family structure, their futures, and then legalize it and make sure that those same people don't get a chance to benefit or resurrect their lives from it?"
It's the first investment in the marijuana industry for Combs, whose company Combs Enterprises has business interests in music, fashion and media.
In Massachusetts, cannabis has now overtaken cranberries as the top crop.
