Marijuana dispenser machine company's stock gets really, really high, man

Medbox (MDBX), a firm that makes medical marijuana dispensing machines, says its stock "is getting way too high." Shares spiked 3,000% this week (from about $4 Monday to $215 Thursday), "prompting executives to try and dampen investor enthusiasm." The surge was caused by a MarketWatch story about how to invest in legalized marijuana.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

MORE: Business • Economy • marijuana • MMJ • politics • pot • weed

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The Snowden Principle

http://profile.yahoo.com/DS4OME72OGLQ6QH7LKM74LCWS4 .

Now, a true American Corporate Executive Of The 1% would ease the situation by issuing more shares… Supply and demand, right?
- EH
  
  Or hey, someone else can start up a competing company.
- BillStewart2012
  
  At that price, if it’s not a very narrow trading anomaly, he could issue more shares and give everybody a $4 dividend, so the original stockholders would have doubled their money.
  - Sean Darcy
    
    That is called a ponzi scheme
  - JoeMarfice
    
    Doesn’t take much investigation to see it was indeed a very narrow trading situation. About 6 separate buys, less than 1000 shares each, drove up the price. It began dropping the same day.
    
    However, the original stockholders are still set up for a 400% profit at the close of the next day’s business, so they aren’t hurting for that 100% dividend.
SofaKing

and yet Hostess is going out of business…
- http://twitter.com/owen_davis Owen Davis
  
  This company should just buy Hostess. That’s synergy!
  - jandrese
    
    Brownie Bites would get a lot more interesting at least.
- Bob Webb
  
  My friend complained on Facebook about Hostess’s going out of business meaning that he can’t buy any more Twinkies. But surely the trademarks to that product could be auctioned off just like its other assets have probably been sold off?
That_Anonymous_Coward

* not pictured… snack machine addon preloaded with funions :)

Its an interesting idea, until the Feds roll in and take it into custody where it will have a little accident…
acerplatanoides

215 a share? That’s a bargain. preferred shares are like $300 around here
- Matt Grimm
  
  I see what you did there.
Brainspore

“prompting executives to try and dampen investor enthusiasm.”

Total buzzkill. Not cool.
- http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=13001904 Jeremy Sweeney
  
  THE STOCK IS TOO DAMN HIGH.
- mappo
  
  They aren’t trying to dampen enthusiasm. Rather, they just want to smooth the enthusiasm out by filtering it through a liquid.
pupdog

Thanks Google Ads, that Puffit Vaporizer ad you put after the story was perfect
- http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt
  
  Good synergy there, but my fav google ad went something like: “Glory holes? You can find them at Amazon.com!” Wish I had taken a screen grab.
http://www.lightning-rose.com/ LightningRose

Finally! A vending machine worth the trouble of tipping upside-down and shaking!
10xor01

Might make a nice short. Just because marijuana will be legal in some places, doesn’t mean that selling it in vending machines will be.
- Brainspore
  
  Like, how can something be legal AND illegal at the same time, man? Think about it, that’s some deep shit.
Glippiglop

Massive trade spikes aren’t uncommon when a thinly traded stock is exposed to excess publicity, but 3000% is insane. Whoever was buying in at those prices will no doubt be learning a big lesson in trading come next week… after they’ve come down from their high of course.
- jandrese
  
  It’s crashing today, already back down to 100 and falling fast. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of the activity was just speculators driving up the price for a quick buck from whatever suckers bought it at 200. So much of Wall Street these days seems to be people trying to make a quick buck off of other people trying to make a quick buck.
  - acerplatanoides
    
    I agree with your point. I’d like to amplify your conclusion. Almost ALL of Wall Street these days seems that way.
    - http://www.facebook.com/loloskidro Lorrie Federan-Skidmore
      
      That’s what it’s all about.
strangefriend

Jon Stewart reprimands media for marijuana jokes
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-november-8-2012/post-democalyptic-world—marijuana-legalization?xrs=share_copy
OldBrownSquirrel

Split the stock into dime bags.
carlogesualdodivenosa

That dispensing machine? Totally chilled.
http://www.facebook.com/weedbay Weedbay Guy

It’s trading at $20 a share and they are lucky to get that.
http://slyck.com/ zbeast

$200.00 a share.. for a vending machine company? Really…
This is not the first machine of this type. I think that people are just over excited because of the
cracks in the dam of pot legislation. But that in no way make a company like this worth $200 a share..
I best they have sold less than $10k of these machines..
johng

In case of emergency break glass…
John Maple

The title of this thread, alone, is worth the price of admission. ^_^
mariancisar

Buy low, Sell uh… high.
http://www.facebook.com/guillaume.filion Guillaume Filion

That’s a pretty good thing. Notice how the Wall St guys get what they want from the government? Well, let’s make it so that they want legal marijuana, and watch the laws change faster than you can say “dude, pass me the joint.”
http://www.facebook.com/evan.lightcap Evan Thomas Lightcap

yeah they jumped for literally a day. at close today they were back down to 20 a share, a little more then 90% loss. this was some sort of fluke
- acerplatanoides
  
  It’s not a fluke if someone was making money by manipulating the market. That would be another f word. Fraud.