Jones Soda Says its Hemp-Based THC Drink Business Growing Slower than Expected

Still, the segment's revenue nearly quadrupled during the third quarter.

Mary Jones 65b94bb10ac70
Mary Jones

Jones Soda said its hemp-based delta-9 THC beverage business, Mary Jones, is not growing its distribution network as quickly as it had anticipated. The company blamed that in part for a downturn in its third-quarter earnings.

“Our third quarter did not meet our internal expectations, and we have taken immediate action to correct our trajectory,” said Paul Norman, Chairman of the Board and Interim Chief Executive and Financial Officer of Jones, likely referring to the recent resignation of Chief Financial Officer Joe Culp. Culp, who said he stepped down to pursue other endeavors, was temporarily replaced by Ronald Dissinger, a member of Jones' board and former CFO at the Kellogg Company.

Norman also blamed his company's third quarter results on negative impacts from a Canadian distributor transition ad the loss of a discount retail customer in the U.S. "In addition, we incurred more operating expenses than we had initially budgeted. We have taken corrective actions to improve and align our cost structure, adjust our Canadian distribution model and have added more HD9 distributors in the fourth quarter," he said.

Revenue in the third quarter of 2024 was $4.2 million compared to $4.5 million in the prior year period. The company's net loss expanded to $2.6 million, compared to a net loss of $0.9 million during the same quarter of 2023.

While Jones may not be seeing its list of Mary Jones distributors grow as fast as it would like, the segment has become one of the company's fastest growing. Mary Jones generated approximately $800,000 in revenue in the third quarter of 2024 compared to approximately $220,000 in revenue in the third quarter of 2023.


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