Brendan Kennedy (businessman)

Brendan Kennedy
Born1971 or 1972 (age 52–53)
NationalityAmerican
Education
Known forCEO and co-founder, Privateer Holdings
CEO, Tilray
Children2

Brendan Kennedy (born 1971 or 1972)[1] is an American businessman, CEO and a co-founder of Privateer Holdings, along with Michael Blue and Christian Groh, and the former CEO of Tilray.

Early life and education

Kennedy is the sixth of seven children of a San Francisco-based family.[2]

Kennedy earned a BA in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley in 1993,[3] an MS in Engineering from the University of Washington in 1995, and an MBA from Yale University in 2005.[4][5][6]

Career

Kennedy previously worked at SVB Analytics, an affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank, as did Christian Groh.[5]

He "experimented with cannabis" before founding Privateer Holdings in 2011.[2][7]

Kennedy founded Tilray in 2014, originally incorporated under Privateer Holdings and as one of Canada's first licensed producers.[8][9] In 2019, Privateer Holdings was merged with Tilray.[10]

Kennedy served as Tilray's CEO until 2020, when he announced his resignation.[11][12]

Personal life

Kennedy has two children, and lives in Seattle.[13] He has said that "probably the hardest thing" about becoming rich was telling his in-laws.[14]

Net worth

According to Bloomberg L.P., as of September 2018, Kennedy has a net worth of at least US$2.4 billion.[5] In 2019, his total compensation from Tilray was $3.48 million, down from $31.82 million in 2018.[15] Tilray stock later collapsed and as of February 2021, Kennedy is worth $238 million.[16]

References

  1. ^ "Peter Thiel rakes in billions with stake in Canadian marijuana company Tilray". afr.com. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  2. ^ a b Parker, Garrett (26 January 2019). "Brendan Kennedy: The Marijuana Billionaire Who Doesn't Smoke". moneyinc. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  3. ^ "From Construction to Cannabis: Alum Brendan Kennedy Leads First Medical Marijuana Company to Go Public". Berkeley. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Brendan Kennedy". Tilray. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Tom Metcalf, Reade Pickert, and Craig Giammona (19 September 2018). "The Pot Rally Just Minted Three New Billionaires". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 September 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Brendan Kennedy". The Marque. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  7. ^ Iris Dorbian (December 17, 2019). "Tilray Closes Merger With Privateer". Forbes. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  8. ^ "Tilray's Takeover". Cannabis Business Times. Retrieved 2022-03-04.
  9. ^ Derek Hall (20 June 2018). "Seattle's Privateer launches $100M IPO for its Canadian marijuana company". Seattle Times. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  10. ^ "Tilray, Inc. Completes Merger with Privateer Holdings, Inc" (Press release). 13 December 2019. Archived from the original on 20 September 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  11. ^ Dorbian, Iris. "Canada's Tilray Pops In Milestone U.S. IPO Debut". forbes.com. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
  12. ^ Brendan Kennedy (December 15, 2020). "Resignation Letter and Release". SEC. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  13. ^ Wieczner, Jen (January 16, 2019). "The marijuana billionaire who doesn't smoke weed". Fortune. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  14. ^ Rhys Blakely, Rhys Blakely (October 26, 2019). "Brendan Kennedy: from Silicon Valley to legal cannabis billionaire". The Times. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  15. ^ Kilgore, Tomi (April 30, 2020). "Tilray CEO Brendan Kennedy gets a 35% raise in base pay in 2019, but total compensation tumbles". marketwatch. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
  16. ^ "Brendan Kennedy Net Worth (2021) – wallmine.com". wallmine.com. Retrieved 2021-02-02.


Stub icon

This article about a chief executive from the United States is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.