Cresco Labs Inc.

Is Cresco Labs publicly traded?

Yes. Cresco Labs trades on the Canadian Securities Exchange under ticker CL, on OTCQX under CRLBF, and on the Frankfurt exchange under 6CQ. Federal prohibition prevents listing on U.S. exchanges like the NYSE or NASDAQ.

When was Cresco Labs founded?

Charlie Bachtell, Joe Caltabiano, Dominic Sergi, Rob Sampson, and Brian McCormack founded the company in 2013 in Chicago, Illinois, coinciding with Illinois' medical cannabis program.

Who owns Cresco Labs?

Cresco Labs is a widely held public company with shares distributed among public investors. Co-founder and CEO Charlie Bachtell and early investors hold meaningful insider positions.

What is Cresco Labs' annual revenue?

Fiscal 2025 revenue was $655.85 million, down 9.5 percent year over year. Trailing twelve-month revenue through Q3 2026 reached $659 million, with Q3 revenue of $173 million up 5 percent.

Where is Cresco Labs headquartered?

Cresco Labs Inc. is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA, with operations across eight states where it holds cannabis licenses.

What brands does Cresco Labs own?

The portfolio includes Cresco, Sunnyside dispensaries, High Supply, FloraCal, Remedi, Good News, Mindy's edibles, and Wonder Wellness Co.

Bachtell, Caltabiano, Sergi, Sampson, and McCormack founded Cresco Labs in 2013 in Chicago, just as Illinois opened its medical cannabis licensing process. The founding team combined legal, real estate, and operational backgrounds suited to a regulated industry being built from scratch.

Early wins in Illinois' limited-license program established the template: secure scarce licenses, build cultivation and retail vertically, and expand into other limited-license states where regulatory barriers protected early movers. The company went public on the Canadian Securities Exchange in 2018 through a reverse takeover, joining the cohort of U.S. cannabis companies forced to list abroad.

Expansion accelerated through license wins and acquisitions across Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Massachusetts, Arizona, New York, and Florida. The wholesale strategy distinguished Cresco from retail-focused peers: its branded products reached shelves across its footprint regardless of how many stores it owned, building share in markets where license caps limited retail expansion.

In 2022, the company announced a transformational all-stock merger with Columbia Care valued at roughly $2 billion, which would have created the largest U.S. cannabis operator. Regulatory approvals dragged through a deteriorating market, and both companies terminated the deal in July 2023.

The years that followed tested the whole sector. Capital markets closed, valuations collapsed more than 80 percent across the industry, and price compression squeezed margins. Cresco cut costs, concentrated on its strongest markets, and prioritized cash generation over growth.

Fiscal 2025 produced revenue of $655.85 million, down 9.5 percent, with a net loss of $135.4 million. Operations stabilized in 2026: the company acquired nine Pennsylvania dispensaries for $50 million, Q3 2026 revenue of $173 million rose 5 percent year over year, and adjusted EBITDA margin reached 20.2 percent.

The defining external development is federal rescheduling. A December 2025 executive order directed the Justice Department to complete moving cannabis to Schedule III, which would end the 280E tax burden and potentially open U.S. exchange listings. Company materials describe the moment as a re-rating opportunity for profitable operators.

The company operates under state cannabis regulations that mandate testing, tracking, and safety compliance in lieu of federal oversight. Social equity programs in license states include incubator support for minority cannabis entrepreneurs, community investment in disproportionately impacted areas, and support for record expungement.

No independent certifications such as B Corp exist for plant-touching cannabis businesses given federal prohibition. Environmental reporting covers energy and water intensity at cultivation sites, a recognized challenge for indoor growing.

The collapsed $2 billion Columbia Care merger in July 2023 was the company's largest public setback, ending a deal that would have created the biggest U.S. cannabis operator after regulators and market conditions made completion untenable.

The company's entire existence sits inside a regulatory contradiction: fully licensed and taxpaying at the state level while federally prohibited. Section 280E imposes effective tax rates far above normal corporate levels, banking access remains constrained despite state legalization, and federal prohibition blocks U.S. exchange listings.

Routine state-level enforcement actions over testing and labeling have occurred in the normal course, without major incidents distinguishing the company from peers.