Page 28 - Forbes - USA (November 2019)

Book Value
Leaders from the worlds
of business, academia,
entertainment and
26 politics share what’s on
their bedside table.

R
E
N
N
U
R
T
N
O Richard Branson
R
F Founder, Virgin;
Forbes 400 member
21 LESSONS FOR
THE 21ST CENTURY
by Yuval Noah Harari

New Billionaire

HIGH NET WORTH

I’d read Yuval Noah Harari’s Seven years ago, selling pot in America was a shady business.
previous books, Sapiens

and Homo Deus, which are But new marijuana billionaire Boris Jordan wasn’t scared off—after all,
full of fascinating insights he had cut his teeth investing in Russia in the early 1990s.
into the past and future of
our species. In 21 Lessons

ling and compassionate B
(Spiegel & Grau, 2018) he oris Jordan moved to Jordan first invested in Curaleaf, then
takes aim squarely at the Moscow in 1992, a year called PalliaTech, in 2012, when recreational
present. He is as compel- after the fall of the Soviet marijuana was legal only in Washington
in his explanations as ever Union. Three years later, the State and medical use was approved in just
but focuses on surprising

specifics to paint a broader then-28-year-old founded 18 states and Washington, D.C. It’s not yet
picture. Whether it’s climate Renaissance Capital, which was one of Rus- a huge company—revenues last year were
change, war, technology or sia’s most successful investment firms before $77 million—but that’s enough to make it

religion, he has a knack for

making daunting, complex the 2008 recession. The Sea Cliff, New York, one of the biggest marijuana companies in
issues relatable and under- native, who studied political science at New the U.S. Pot stocks are highly valued, too:
standable. It’s essentially a York University, still has investments in Rus- Curaleaf’s shares trade in Toronto; Jordan’s
collection of essays, but it
reads like a thriller. sia, including a stake in Renaissance Insur- 31% stake was recently worth $900 million.
I would recommend Harari’s ance, which has $1.1 billion in revenues. Marijuana is now fully legal in 11 states,
books to anyone. They’re The bulk of Jordan’s $1 billion fortune including California, but Jordan is predicting
useful for people wondering
about their place in the comes from an investment he made after he that it will be legal across the entire country

world, just starting to make moved back to the United States in 2012. A in the next three to five years. Of course, le-
their way in it or looking neighbor pestered him to invest in medical galization would bring new competitors into
back on their life so far.

They’re not traditional lead- marijuana. Jordan was initially cool on the a crowded field, but he thinks Curaleaf can
ership books, but they’re full idea, but eventually he came to see paral- stay on top, in part by acquiring rivals like NEW BILLIONAIRE BY HAYLEY CUCCINELLO
of useful leadership lessons. lels between the nascent gray-market pot Grassroots Cannabis, which it agreed to buy
That’s because business is
all about people, and so are industry and doing business in Russia in the this summer for $875 million in cash and ARSENIY NESKHODIMOV
these books—how we live early 1990s. “There were no capital markets stock. Says Jordan, “Competition will grow,
together, work together,

love together and change there, no regulation and a lack of transpar- but those players who come first and have
together. ency,” he recalls. developed brands will win this game.”

F O R B E S . C O M N O V E M B E R 3 0 , 2 0 1 9
F O R B E S . C O M