High Times owner hires Victoria’s Secret, cannabis vet as CEO
Financially struggling Hightimes Holding Corp. has a new CEO — its third since December.
The company, which owns stoner magazine High Times, has appointed Peter Horvath, most recently CEO of Green Growth Brands, to replace Stormy Simon, who resigned Monday after four months on the job.
Horvath took cannabis retailer Green Growth Brands public in November 2018, but it announced in April that it was in default on a $5 million note and is in the process of selling off all its retail dispensaries for cannabis products.
Simon, the onetime president of publicly traded Overstock.com, was tapped as the CEO in January to replace Kraig Fox, a former executive of Dick Clark Productions who quit last Christmas Eve after just nine months on the job.
Shortly after taking the job, Simon said she would run for Congress in the Democratic primary in Utah. She still remains on the board, the company said.
Horvath, onetime chief operating officer of Victoria’s Secret, will be paid $100,000 a year, according to regulatory filings.
His compensation will be raised to $400,000 plus 600,000 in restricted stock units if he helps the company raise another $20 million in equity.
Hightimes Holding, owned by private equity firm Oreva Capital, has been trying to raise money through a crowdfunded IPO known as a Reg A+ since 2018.
The company says it has more than 30,000 stockholders and has raised $20 million.
On May 5, a spokesman told The Post that the IPO will wind down in the next ten days.
Hightimes Holding, which recently suspended the print editions of Dope and Culture magazines, has shifted its business to selling and distributing cannabis products.
It recently agreed to pay $5 million cash, and issue a $7.5 million promissory note and 675,000 shares of preferred stock to take over the equity in five retail outlets of Harvest Health in California with an option to buy eight other stores.
The company said it hopes to close the Harvest Health acquisition by June 30.