Casamigos

Casamigos
Founded 2013, United States
Founders George Clooney, Rande Gerber, Mike Meldman
Products Tequila
Parent Diageo
Website casamigostequila.com

Casamigos is a tequila company co-founded in 2013 by George Clooney, Rande Gerber, and Mike Meldman.[1][2] It was purchased in June 2017 by Diageo[1][3] for US$700 million plus up to a further $300m based on the brand's performance.[4]

History

Formation

The label was launched in 2013,[5] by the American actor George Clooney, nightlife entrepreneur Rande Gerber, and property developer Mike Meldman.[1][2] The name Casamigos comes from the Spanish "casa" and "amigos," house and friends, thus "house of friends."[3]

Friends Gerber and Clooney were building their vacation homes next to each other in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, sampling tequilas together for months, and Clooney recommended they simply make their own type of tequila to taste.[6] Bringing in Meldman, they commissioned a distillery in Jalisco, Mexico to make them a tequila that “tasted great and didn’t burn going down,” among other qualities such as little hangover and ability to drink straight or with ice. After ordering “a thousand bottles a year” from the distillery to sample for two years, they were asked by the distillery to get a business license to order the liquor as a full product. According to CNBC, the company was indeed only a private collection of tequila for the co-founders and their associates, with no intent of taking the company public.[6]

Sale

In June 2017, the world's largest spirits manufacturer, the British multinational Diageo, which has stated that Casamigos is the "fastest-growing super-premium tequila brand in the US,"[1][3] purchased the company for $700 million plus up to a further $300 million based on the brand's performance over the coming decade.[4] Forbes reported that the three co-founders put in $600,000 each as initial investment, and each stand to get up to $333 million if the full $1 billion sale price is realized.[2] The purchase, according to the Wall Street Journal, equated to Diageo paying almost $500 a bottle.[5]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Julia Kollewe (1 January 1970). "George Clooney sells his tequila company for up to $1bn | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Natalie Robehmed. "George Clooney Could Get Up To $233 Million From Casamigos Tequila Sale". Forbes.com. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 "George Clooney's tequila firm Casamigos sells for $1bn - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
  4. 1 2 Fontanella-Khan, James; Massoudi, Arash; Vandevelde, Mark (June 21, 2017). "Diageo pays up to $1bn for George Clooney tequila brand". Financial Times. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  5. 1 2 Wilmot, Stephen (June 22, 2017). "Why Diageo Is Paying $500 a Bottle for George Clooney's Tequila". Wall Street Journal. United States. Retrieved July 1, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Elkins, Kathleen (July 24, 2017). "How George Clooney accidentally started a billion-dollar tequila company". CNBC. Retrieved July 30, 2017.
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