According to a recent announcement, Bud Light parent company Anheuser-Busch will now sell off eight of its beer brands as its sales continue to decline in the wake of Bud Light’s Dylan Mulvaney marketing disaster.
The $85 million deal will include Shock Top; Colorado-based Breckenridge Brewery; New York-based Blue Point Brewing Company; Seattle-based Redhook Brewery; 10 Barrel Brewing Company of Bend, Oregon; Portland, Oregon-based Widmer Brothers Brewing and Square Mile Cider Company, and San Francisco-based energy drink company HiBall Energy.
The sale is to Tilray, a Canadian company that started off as a cannabis company but has recently expanded into craft brewing. Tilray will, as part of the deal, purchase not just the intellectual property, branding, and recipes of the eight beer brands, but will also buy the current employees, breweries, and associated brewpubs. So, Tilray will acquire eight brewpubs across America and production facilities in Portland and Bend, Ore., Littleton, Colo., and Patchogue, N.Y.
$TLRY Announces Agreement to Acquire Eight Beer & Beverage Brands from Anheuser-Busch, Fueling Tilray’s Future in The U.S. Craft Beer Industry.
Details https://t.co/COLGkq3mM4 pic.twitter.com/XB677bJj0F
— Tilray Brands (@tilray) August 7, 2023
Tilray CEO and chairman Irwan D. Simon said that the deal “solidifies our national leadership position and share in the U.S. craft brewing market and marks a major step forward in our diversification strategy.”
Continuing, Simon noted that Tilray’s recent expansion into craft brewing has taken place over just a few years but has already put it in a commanding position to reinvigorate the craft brewing sector, saying, “In a matter of three years, Tilray has solidified its leadership position in the craft beer industry, and we fully intend to be that change agent that reinvigorates the sector.”
He then added that Tilray plans even more expansion into the US as THC is legalized, saying, “Upon federal cannabis legalization, we expect to leverage our leadership position, wide distribution network and portfolio of beloved beverage and wellness brands to include THC-based products and maximize all commercial opportunities.”
The move comes as Anheuser Busch rethinks its attempt to “go craft by buying up craft brands from around the country, a strategy that didn’t particularly help the brand best know for its mass production of swill bought for its cheap price rather than taste.
After the sale, Bud Light will be left with only twelve of its craft brewery holdings, so its expansion into that market will have been trimmed significantly by the sale to Tilray, which will in turn have significantly expanded its move into the craft market as it seeks greater involvement in the US substance market. The deal will make Tilray America’s fifth-largest craft beer company, up from ninth place.
More importantly for many conservatives and others infuriated by the brand’s Mulvaney marketing partnership, the massive sale comes hot on the heels of Bud Light losing significant market share while having to send out cash to support its ailing distributors and lay off a large percentage of its US employee base.
The parent company, however, has managed to make up some of the shortfall with global sales, which are higher than expected despite the backlash in the US over the Mulvaney ad.
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