CHICAGOBUSINESS.COM I JUNE 24, 2024
Luz Maria Flores
CRAIN’S
A lifeline for CPS and other districts is going away ALYCE HENSON
How will schools continue their progress as COVID recovery funding winds down? I PAGE 11
City’s reputation at stake as big summer begins
Green Thumb pursuing Sam Adams and listing on stock exchanges By John Pletz
Green Thumb Industries’ courtship of Sam Adams brewer Boston Beer Co. may have as much to do with the Chicagobased cannabis company’s interest in U.S. investors as its taste for beer. After reports that Boston Beer might be in talks to sell, GTI CEO Ben Kovler sent a letter to Boston Beer founder Jim Koch, making his pitch for a merger. Kovler, who posted the letter on social media, talks plenty about
why a slow-growth beer maker should be drawn to GTI’s faster growth and fatter profit margins. GTI is the best house in the bad neighborhood occupied by cannabis stocks. At $11.49 per share, the stock trades at about one-third of its peak in March 2021. The numbers are even worse for Chicago-based Verano Holdings and Cresco Labs. A big reason for the weak stock prices is cannabis companies had to go public in Canada because marijuana remains illegal in the United States. Canadian
BOSTON BREWING CO.
Cannabis companies can’t wait to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges. GTI’s CEO Ben Kovler is looking for a head start.
stock exchanges are smaller and much more dependent on retail investors, who are far less patient or predictable than the big institutional investors that underpin the U.S. markets. Overly optimistic hopes for legalization of marijuana in the U.S. by those same retail investors have made things even worse. See GREEN THUMB on Page 27
A 71-day stretch of high-profile events is beginning in Chicago By Danny Ecker
Chicago is about to find itself in one of the biggest and longestlasting media and tourism spotlights the city has ever seen. Its reputation to visitors, businesses, meeting planners and the rest of the world is at stake. Next month's second annual NASCAR Chicago Street Race kicks off a 71-day stretch of
high-profile events, festivals and conventions, creating one of the biggest summers for the city's hotel and hospitality market in years. Anchored by eight days of activities during the Democratic National Convention in August, a schedule that also includes Lollapalooza, the Chicago Air & Water Show and September's International Manufacturing Technology Show — the biggest trade show McCormick Place hosts — this summer stands to bring massive crowds to a downtown starved for foot traffic and showcase a city in See REPUTATION on Page 27
VOL. 47, NO. 25 l COPYRIGHT 2024 CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC. l ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
DAN MCGRATH The total package of talent, flair, energy and sheer love of the game — Willie Mays was the best. Ever. PAGE 2
NONPROFITS After conducting new research on its provenance, the Art Institute will return an object in its collection to Thailand. PAGE 2