MillerCoors

MillerCoors was a beer brewing company in the United States. In 2002 South African Breweries purchased Miller Brewing Company to create SABMiller. In 2005, Molson Brewery of Canada and Coors Brewing Company merged to form the Molson Coors Beverage Company.[3] Then, in 2008, SABMiller and Molson Coors created MillerCoors as a joint venture for their operations in the U.S.[4] The company is the second-largest brewer in the U.S., after Anheuser-Busch.[5]

MillerCoors LLC
Subsidiary
IndustryBeverages
Founded2008
Defunct2020
Headquarters250 S. Wacker Drive
Chicago, United States[1]
Key people
Gavin Hattersley, CEO
Pete Coors, Chairman
ProductsBeer
RevenueUS$7.72 billion (2015)[2]
US$1.239 billion (2015)[2]
US$1.328 billion (2015)[2]
ParentMolson Coors Beverage Company
SubsidiariesMiller Brewing Company Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company
WebsiteMillerCoors Homepage

These component companies had very different backgrounds. Miller Brewing was started in 1855 by settler Frederick Miller who had been studying the making of beer for years; he first owned Plank Road Brewery before opening the first Miller Company in Milwaukee. The original Molson Brewery was started by John Molson in Montreal, Canada in 1786. Coors Brewing Company was started by Adolph Coors, who emigrated from Prussia, in Colorado in 1873 and went through several name changes over the years until it was merged with Molson's in 2005, becoming Molson Coors Brewing Company.[6]

On October 11, 2016, SABMiller sold its stake in MillerCoors for around US$12 billion after the company was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev, making Molson Coors the 100 percent owner of MillerCoors.[7] In effect, MillerCoors became the "U.S. business unit of Molson Coors."[8] In Canada, Molson Coors regained the right (from SABMiller) to make and market Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite.[4]

Molson Coors plans to keep the MillerCoors name and the Chicago headquarters and plans to operate it in much the same way as before October 11, 2016.[8] For the consumer, and for employees, the change to 100 percent ownership (from the previous 42 percent) by Molson Coors will not be apparent, according to Jon Stern, MillerCoors' director of media relations. "The good news is that none of this impacts Milwaukee or Wisconsin. It'll be business as usual. Miller Lite, Coors Light, Miller High Life and Leinenkugel's -- and frankly all the rest of our brands will continue to be brewed by us."[9]

On January 1, 2020, MillerCoors changed its name to Molson Coors Beverage Company. This was part of a corporate restructuring that also combined the U.S. and Canadian business units.[10][11]

Operations

MillerCoors is the US business of Molson Coors and employs around 17,400 people.[12] The U.S. company brews, markets and wholesaler sales the MillerCoors portfolio of brands in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. MillerCoors operates eight major breweries in the U.S., as well as Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, Georgia and the Blue Moon Brewing Company at Coors Field in Denver.

Management team

The current management of the MillerCoors business unit consists of the following:[13]

  • Gavin Hattersley, Chief Executive Officer
  • Vicky Cookson, Chief People & Diversity Officer
  • Brad Greer, President, Sales and Distributor Operations
  • Dan Werth, Chief Customer Officer
  • Kelly Grebe, Chief Legal and Corporate Services Officer
  • David Kroll, Chief Marketing Officer
  • Pete Marino, Chief Public Affairs and Communications Officer
  • Fernando Palacios, Executive Vice President and Chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer
  • Greg Tierney, Chief Financial Officer
  • Scott Whitley, President & Chief Beer Merchant, Tenth and Blake Beer Company

History

MillerCoors was announced as a joint venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors in October 2007 [14] 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.[15]

On September 14, 2015, Miller Coors announced that it would shut down its Eden, NC 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.[16]

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.[17]

Sole ownership by Molson Coors

During the merger discussions between Anheuser-Busch InBev and SABMiller in 2015, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) had agreed to 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."[18] SABMiller agreed to divest itself of the Miller brands by selling its stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors.[7]

After the merger on October 10, 2016 was concluded, SABMiller sold to Molson Coors full ownership of the Miller brand portfolio outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico for US$12 billion. 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.[19] The company is now also the largest brewer in the U.S.[8]

The Molson Coors press release provides a summary of the net effect in terms of the Miller portfolio. "As part of the transaction, Molson Coors gains full ownership of the Miller brand portfolio outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and retains 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."[19]

In the U.S., the change is merely one of ownership (from 42 percent to 100 percent by Molson Coors), and that will not be relevant or apparent to consumers or to MillerCoors employees through wholesale market.[20] However, the company was planning to increase investment in several of its brands, including new national marketing and advertising campaigns, to increase sales.[21]

2020 mass shooting
Main article: Milwaukee brewery shooting

A Molson Coors brewery in Milwaukee was the scene of a mass shooting in which an employee killed five people, then himself, on February 26, 2020.[22][23] The complex is in the "Miller Valley" area which previously served as the headquarters for the Miller Brewing Company.[24]

Brands
Main article: List of Molson Coors brands

Brands brewed, owned, or distributed by MillerCoors include the following:[25]

See also

Notes
  1. "MillerCoors headquarters will remain in Chicago - Chicago Business Journal". Retrieved 2016-09-21.
  2. MILLERCOORS REPORTS 2015 UNDERLYING NET INCOME OF $1.328 BILLION, IN-LINE WITH PRIOR YEAR
  3. "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.
  4. Wright, Lisa (November 11, 2015). "Molson Coors doubles with $12B Miller buyout". Toronto Star. Toronto. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  5. "Brewers Association Releases Top 50 Breweries of 2016". Brewers Association. March 15, 2017. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  6. "Our Story". Miller Coors. Molson Coors division, Molson Coors. 2017. Retrieved January 31, 2017.
  7. 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.
  8. Dill, Molly (10 October 2016). "Anheuser-Busch to complete acquisition of SABMiller today". BizTimes. BizTimes Media LLC. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  9. "Mega-merger: Anheuser-Busch InBev's takeover of SABMiller is now official". FOX 6 Now. Tribune Broadcasting. October 10, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2017. As for what this means for workers in Milwaukee, Stern said there's not much overlap between Molson Coors and MillerCoors.
  10. Naczek, Margaret (October 30, 2019). "Molson Coors Dropping Miller Name as It Rebrands the Company". Milwaukee Business Journal. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
  11. 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.
  12. "Molson Coors Brewing on the Forbes Just Companies List". Forbes. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
  13. "Get To Know Our Leaders". MillerCoors. MillerCoors division, Molson Coors. 2017. Accessed January 31, 2017. MillerCoors represents a business unit of Molson Coors Brewing Company for the United States.
  14. Martin, Andrew (October 10, 2007). "Merger for SABMiller and Molson Coors". New York Times.
  15. 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.
  16. Craver, Richard (2016-09-15). "MillerCoors to close Eden brewery in September 2016". Winston-Salem Journal. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  17. Davis, Jonnellle (2016-05-16). "Pabst's sues MillerCoors about Eden closure". News & Record. Retrieved 2016-05-25.
  18. Nurin, Tara (July 20, 2016). "DOJ Approves Largest Beer Merger In Global History, With Significant Conditions". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved January 29, 2017.
  19. "Molson Coors Completes Acquisition of Full Ownership of MillerCoors and Global Miller Brand Portfolio". Molson Coors. 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
  20. "Mega-merger: Anheuser-Busch InBev's takeover of SABMiller is now official". FOX 6 Now. Tribune Broadcasting. October 10, 2016. Retrieved February 2, 2017. As for what this means for workers in Milwaukee, Stern said there's not much overlap between Molson Coors and MillerCoors.
  21. 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.
  22. https://abcnews.go.com/US/milwaukee-police-respond-active-shooting-millercoors-office-building/story?id=69239894
  23. https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/02/26/molson-coors-shooting/
  24. https://www.news4jax.com/news/national/2020/02/26/police-critical-incident-at-molson-coors-in-wisconsin/
  25. "Great Beers – Our Beers". MillerCoors. Retrieved April 8, 2017.
  26. Schultz, E.J. (March 13, 2014). "MillerCoors Makes Manly Pitch with New Hard Cider Brand". Ad Age. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  27. Jones, Kendall (July 29, 2016). "MillerCoors acquires Hop Valley Brewing". Ad Age. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
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