Between the lines: The non-deal deal is structured to avoid obstacles that would come with Canopy’s outright acquisition of Acreage before legalization. A deal now would get Canopy’s shares de-listed from the Toronto and New York Stock Exchange, which both forbid listing companies with U.S. cannabis operations since it’s federally illegal. (Canada made marijuana fully legal nationwide in October.)

• “This is like a very large game of double dutch, as in ‘if the rules change we'll come play, but until then we'll keep spinning those ropes.’ It's a waiting match,” Brent Williams, founder of Highwater Financial, a cannabis-focused investment firm, tells Axios.
• “It’s a great precedent to set for the Aurora Cannabis's of the world to come in for further expansion of Canadian companies into the U.S.”

How it works: The deal is terminated if cannabis is not legalized (or if exchanges don't change their rules) within 7.5 years, or 90 months. If the deal falls through, no word on what happens to the $300 million upfront cash Canopy agreed to pay Acreage shareholders.

• But the heads of both companies and many analysts are optimistic legislation will pass within the next 2 or 3 years.
• The companies said the deal value was a 41% premium over Acreage's share price.

What’s in it for the companies:

• “Canopy has been at risk of missing out on the U.S. market as it grows. Now they have sort of secured a path towards that, while avoiding an outright acquisition today," Rob Wertheimer, a founding partner of Melius Research, tells Axios. “Acreage is attached to what has become an emerging North American leader and that’s well-positioned for growth.”

The bottom line: This just built a path for companies to buy into a budding U.S. marijuana market without breaking any laws and without facing the wrath of stock exchanges. Analysts say the deal structure could set off a wave of similar transactions.

Go deeper: 4/20 sells high: Corporate America embraces marijuana's big day

• Several factors have contributed to companies' fatter bottom lines over the last 20 years: corporate tax cuts, the rise of globalization, less anti-trust enforcement, low interest rates and workers' shrinking bargaining power for more pay.
• But "many of these drivers of high profit margins are now under threat," Bridgewater analysts say in a new white paper, and the "long-term valuation of equities hinges heavily on what happens to margins going forward."

Of note: Without the benefit companies got from the tax cut last year, and with higher material and labor costs, analysts expect shrinking profit margins as companies release first quarter earnings.

• Still, as of yesterday's close, the S&P 500 is just 31 points from the record high set late last year.

Go deeper: The low-wage benefit for U.S. companies is over