MillerCoors LLC
IndustryBeverages
Founded2008
Defunct2020
FateAcquired by Molson Coors in 2016, Folded into Molson Coors North America in 2020
HeadquartersChicago, United States
ProductsBeer
ParentMolson Coors

MillerCoors was a beer brewing company in the United States. MillerCoors was formed in 2008 as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors to combine their brewing, marketing and sales operations in the United States.[1][2][3] The company was acquired by Molson Coors in 2016.[4] In 2019 it was announced that MillerCoors and Molson Coors Canada would be consolidated into a single business unit under the name Molson Coors North America.[5][6]

History

Joint venture with SABMiller

MillerCoors was announced as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors in October 2007 [7] and was approved by regulators on June 5, 2008. The venture was completed on June 30, 2008, and MillerCoors began operation on July 1, 2008.[8]

On September 14, 2015, MillerCoors announced that it would shut down its Eden, North Carolina brewery in September 2016 due to declining corporate sales. The company has newer plants in Virginia and Georgia that will serve the Eden plant's distribution area.[9] In May 2016, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Pabst Brewing Company and Blue Ribbon Intermediate Holdings filed a lawsuit because Pabst wanted to continue making its beers in Eden.[10]

Sole ownership by Molson Coors

During the merger discussions between Molson Coors and SABMiller in 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to the proposed deal only on the basis that SABMiller "spins off all its MillerCoors holdings in the U.S.—which include both Miller- and Coors-held brands—along with its Miller brands outside the U.S." The entire ownership situation was complicated: "In the United States, Coors is majority owned [58%] by MillerCoors (a subsidiary of SABMiller) and minority owned by Molson Coors, though internationally it's entirely owned by Molson Coors, and Miller is owned by SABMiller."[11] SABMiller agreed to divest itself of the Miller brands by selling its stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors.[4]

On October 11, 2016, SABMiller sold its stake in MillerCoors for around US$12 billion after the company was acquired by Molson Coors, making Molson Coors the 100 percent owner of MillerCoors.[4] Molson Coors also retained "the rights to all of the brands currently in the MillerCoors portfolio for the U.S. and Puerto Rico, including Redd's and import brands such as Peroni, Grolsch and Pilsner Urquell." The agreement made Molson Coors the world's third largest brewer.[12][13]

2020 Molson Coors corporate restructuring

On January 1, 2020, Molson Coors Brewing Company changed its name to Molson Coors Beverage Company. This was part of a corporate restructuring that reorganized the company's four business units into Molson Coors North America and Molson Coors Europe and retired the MillerCoors corporate brand name.[5][14][15]

Brands

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (July 2018)

Main article: List of Molson Coors brands

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Miller, Coors double-team Bud – New venture, to be called MillerCoors, will take on industry-leader Anheuser-Busch, which owns Budweiser". CNN. October 9, 2007. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved October 9, 2007.
  2. ^ "Molson Coors claims all of MillerCoors, making home-grown brewer the third largest in the world". The Denver Post. 2016-10-12. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  3. ^ Wright, Lisa (November 11, 2015). "Molson Coors doubles with $12B Miller buyout". Toronto Star. Toronto. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c Brown, Lisa (October 11, 2016). "A-B InBev finalizes $100B billion acquisition of SABMiller, creating world's largest beer company". Chicago Tribune. Chicago. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Naczek, Margaret (October 30, 2019). "Molson Coors Dropping Miller Name as It Rebrands the Company". Milwaukee Business Journal. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  6. ^ "Molson Coors CEO Hattersley: Revitalization plan 'will put us on the path to growth'". Molson Coors Blog. October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2020.
  7. ^ Martin, Andrew (October 10, 2007). "Merger for SABMiller and Molson Coors". New York Times.
  8. ^ Daykin, Tom (2008-06-05). "U.S. signs off on Miller, Coors merger". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2008-08-03. Retrieved 2008-06-05.
  9. ^ Craver, Richard (2016-09-15). "MillerCoors to close Eden brewery in September 2016". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  10. ^ Davis, Jonnellle (2016-05-16). "Pabst's sues MillerCoors about Eden closure". News & Record. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  11. ^ Nurin, Tara (July 20, 2016). "DOJ Approves Largest Beer Merger In Global History, With Significant Conditions". Forbes. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  12. ^ "Molson Coors Completes Acquisition of Full Ownership of MillerCoors and Global Miller Brand Portfolio". Molson Coors. October 11, 2016. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 29, 2017. Becomes World's Third Largest Brewer by Enterprise Value and Strengthens Position in Highly Attractive U.S. Beer Market
  13. ^ Frost, Peter J (October 11, 2016). "How the new reorg will—and won't—change MillerCoors". Chicago Business. Crain Communication, Inc. Retrieved February 2, 2017. We're now the third-largest brewery in the world, and we're now the biggest American-owned brewer. But our businesses are run locally... and that's not going to change.
  14. ^ Daykin, Tom (October 30, 2019). "Brewing Titan Molson Coors Undergoes Name Change, Looks to Cut up to 500 Jobs". USA Today. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  15. ^ "Molson Coors CEO Hattersley: Revitalization plan 'will put us on the path to growth'". Molson Coors Blog. October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2020.

External links

SABMiller (defunct)
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