Cannabis-tech company Akerna terminated its CFO, filing shows - MarketWatch

Akerna Corp. KERN, -18.45%, a Nasdaq-traded software company aimed at the cannabis industry, terminated its chief financial officer last week, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that arrived after a rough trading session Monday. Akerna announced Monday morning before trading started that it had hired John Fowle as CFO, without mentioning his predecessor nor why she was leaving the company. In an SEC filing that was published Monday afternoon following the close of trading, the company divulged that it had terminated Ruth Ann Kraemer as CFO and secretary of the company on Dec. 17, with no further explanation, and the board had appointed Fowle the same day. An Akerna spokeswoman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on why Kraemer had been terminated. In Monday trading between the announcement and the filing, Akerna shares dove 18.5% to $8.40. Akerna, the parent company of a cannabis-software offering called MJ Freeway, reached the public markets through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company in June, and has been on a wild ride in the months since. Shares more than tripled in the stock's second day of trading after the merger to close at $49.80, then tumbled to less than $4 a share by November, but the stock had rebounded in December to double-digit prices before Monday.