Billionaire Beau Wrigley is building his cannabis company, Parallel, to be bigger than his family's chewing gum business
Parallel Lines: Among Wrigley’s cannabis brands is Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer, which includes vapes, balms and gummies—but no gum
Image: Jamel Toppin for Forbes
In 2017, when billionaire William “Beau” Wrigley Jr was pitched cannabis as a new investment opportunity by his family office’s managing director, Jay Holmes, he shut it down immediately. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “I’m not excited about wearing orange and possibly ending up in prison.”
Still, Wrigley, heir to the all-American chewing gum fortune, couldn’t deny that the burgeoning legal marijuana industry checked off all his investment criteria: A trend in changing consumer behaviour, a transforming regulatory environment and multiple applications in health care.
(This story appears in the 07 May, 2021 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)