Quarterly report pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

Note 1 - Nature Of Operations

v3.8.0.1
Note 1 - Nature Of Operations
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2017
Notes  
Note 1 - Nature Of Operations

 

Note 1 - Nature of operations

 

Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor” or “the Company”), reincorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware in late 2015. The entity was originally founded as an investment partnership in Silicon Valley, California by the current CEO in 1985 and subsequently incorporated under the laws of the State of California on July 29, 1994. On September 12, 1996, the Company’s offering statement was qualified pursuant to Regulation A of the Securities Act, and the Company began to trade its shares publicly. On August 21, 1998, the Company filed for voluntary reorganization and, on January 11, 2000, the Company emerged from Chapter 11. The Company relocated to San Diego, California and contracted to provide financial assistance and investment into small businesses. On May 22, 2015, a corporation, named Mentor Capital, Inc. (“Mentor Delaware”) was incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. A merger between Mentor and Mentor Delaware was approved by the California and Delaware Secretaries of State, and became effective September 24, 2015, thereby establishing Mentor as a Delaware corporation.

 

Since the August 2008, name change back to Mentor Capital, Inc., the Company’s common stock has traded publicly under the trading symbol OTCQB: MNTR.

 

In 2009, the Company began focusing its investing activities in leading edge cancer companies. In 2012, in response to government limitations on reimbursement for certain highly technical and expensive cancer treatments and a resulting business decline in the cancer immunotherapy sector, the Company decided to exit that space. In the summer of 2013 the Company was asked to consider investing in a cancer related project with a medical marijuana focus. On August 29, 2013, the Company made a decision to divest of its cancer assets and focus future investments in the cannabis and medical marijuana sector.

 

Mentor has a 51% interest in Waste Consolidators, Inc. (“WCI”). WCI was incorporated in Colorado in 1999 and operates in Arizona and Texas. It is a legacy investment which was acquired prior to the Company’s current focus on the cannabis sector and is included in the condensed consolidated financial statements presented.

 

On February 28, 2014, the Company entered into an agreement to purchase 60% of the outstanding shares of Bhang Corporation, formerly known as Bhang Chocolate Company, Inc. (“Bhang”), which was ultimately rescinded. Following arbitration, on December 29, 2016, Mentor obtained a judgment against Bhang in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. The judgment is comprised of $1,500,000 of Mentor’s funds retained by Bhang plus pre-judgment interest in the amount of $421,534.62. The judgment also accrues post-judgment interest at the rate of 10% from December 29, 2016 until such time as the judgment is paid in full. Amounts paid to Bhang are reported as Receivable from Bhang Chocolate Company in the condensed consolidated balance sheets at June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016. Interest receivable is fully reserved at June 30, 2017 and December 31, 2016 pending the outcome of the Company’s collection process.

 

On April 18, 2016, the Company formed Mentor IP, LLC (“MCIP”), a South Dakota limited liability company and wholly owned subsidiary of Mentor. MCIP was formed to invest in intellectual property and specifically to hold the investment in patent interests obtained on April 4, 2016 when Mentor Capital, Inc. entered into an agreement with R. Larson and Larson Capital (“Larson”) to seek and secure the benefits of mutual effort directed toward the capture of license fees from domestic and foreign THC and CBD cannabis vape patents. See Note 17.

 

On April 13, 2017 Mentor entered into an agreement to provide $40,000 of funding to offset costs of the application of cannabis oil in a glaucoma study conducted by and otherwise paid for by Dr. Robert M. Mandelkorn, MD. Mentor, doing business as GlauCanna, will hold an 80% interest in any commercial opportunities that result from the study. Dr. Mandelkorn will hold the remaining 20%.

 

On June 30, 2017, the Company converted its original $100,000 convertible promissory note to Electrum Capital Partners, LLC (“Electrum”) plus accrued and unpaid interest of $7,772 into an equity interest in Electrum. At June 30, 2017, the Company had a 4.71% interest in Electrum. The minority investment in Electrum is reported at cost in the condensed consolidated balance sheet. See Note 7.