Aurora Cannabis

Aurora Cannabis is one of Canada's most iconic cannabis producers, and one of the most instructive on the industry's excesses and refocusings. Founded in Alberta in 2013 by Terry Booth and his partners, valued at up to $18 billion at its peak, then restructured from top to bottom, Aurora embodies better than any other company the chaotic trajectory of legal cannabis in the 2010s and its gradual landing in pharmaceutical reality.

Alberta founders with their own money

Aurora Cannabis was founded in 2013 in Mountain View County, Alberta, by Terry Booth, Steve Dobler, Dale Lesack and Chris Mayerson. Alberta is chosen for its favorable tax rates and farm credit program. Booth and Dobler invest over $5 million of their own funds to secure over 160 acres of land and build the first production facility.

Terry Booth comes from the Alberta oil and gas industry, a pragmatic entrepreneurial profile, far removed from the Silicon Valley or Wall Street financiers who dominated other large cannabis companies. He
personally injects over $3 million into the construction of the first plant.

World's first EU GMP license

In 2014, Aurora received its first license from Health Canada to produce medical cannabis, the very first license in the province of Alberta. Its Mountain View County facility becomes the first in the world to be 100% EU GMP certified for medical cannabis production, ahead of even Bedrocan and Tilray on this specific criterion.

The frenetic expansion of 2017-2019

Under the leadership of Terry Booth, appointed CEO in December 2014, Aurora adopts one of the most aggressive acquisition strategies in the industry. In a matter of months it bought CanniMed Therapeutics for C$1.1 billion, then MedReleaf for C$3.2 billion, the largest acquisition in cannabis history at the time. It also acquired Pedanios GmbH, the largest distributor of cannabis to German pharmacies, securing a European bridgehead ahead of German legalization.

In 2018, Aurora is briefly the second most valued cannabis company in the world, behind Canopy Growth. Its market capitalization reaches $18 billion at its peak. Coca-Cola announces it is exploring a partnership with Aurora for CBD-infused beverages, the stock soars.

The fall: carnage, write-downs and restructuring

The Canadian recreational market, legalized in October 2018, is massively disappointing: overstocks, prices uncompetitive with the black market, revenues well below forecasts. In 2019, Aurora itself warns its investors that «carnage» lies ahead for the industry. Two key executives leave in December 2019, and the share price loses 61% of its value over the year.

In February 2020, Terry Booth resigns as CEO, simultaneously with the announcement of 500 job cuts. Aurora records a loss of over C$3.3 billion for fiscal 2020, including massive write-downs of assets overvalued during acquisitions.

Refocusing on global medical cannabis

From 2020 onwards, Aurora will make a radical strategic shift: abandoning large-scale recreational ambitions, closing facilities (including Aurora Sun), drastically cutting costs, and refocusing exclusively on high-margin medical cannabis internationally.

The strategy is gradually bearing fruit. Aurora expands its operations in Germany via Pedanios, in Denmark with an indoor cultivation facility, and in Latin America. In 2024, Aurora achieves net sales of C$299.9 million, with a 18% increase in its global medical cannabis segment, and finally achieves a positive annual adjusted EBITDA of $12.8 million.

Aurora today

Listed on the NASDAQ and TSX under the symbol ACB, Aurora Cannabis is now positioned as a specialist in pharmaceutical-grade medical cannabis for international markets, with a presence in over 25 countries. Its Aurora Sky facility in Alberta remains one of the largest in the world, with a capacity of over 625,000 kilograms per year.

Aurora's story is one of a company that almost lost everything by trying to win everything too fast, and then managed to rebuild on a more solid foundation.