MillerCoors

History

Joint venture with SABMiller

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

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 plants in Virginia and Georgia that serve the Eden plant's distribution area. 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. Before a verdict was rendered, the two companies reached a settlement in late November 2018. Under the settlement, MillerCoors and Pabst resolved their dispute and ended the litigation.

Sole ownership by Molson Coors

During the merger discussions between AB InBev 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." SABMiller agreed to divest itself of the Miller brands by selling its stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors.

On October 11, 2016, SABMiller sold its stake in MillerCoors for around US$12 billion after the company was acquired by AB InBev, making Molson Coors the 100 percent owner of MillerCoors. 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.

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.

Brands

Main article: List of Molson Coors brands

Notes

References

1. (October 9, 2007). "Miller, Coors double-team Bud – New venture, to be called MillerCoors, will take on industry-leader Anheuser-Busch, which owns Budweiser". CNN.
2. (2016-10-12). "Molson Coors claims all of MillerCoors, making home-grown brewer the third largest in the world". The Denver Post.
3. Wright, Lisa. (November 11, 2015). "Molson Coors doubles with $12B Miller buyout". Toronto Star.
4. Brown, Lisa. (October 11, 2016). "A-B InBev finalizes $100B billion acquisition of SABMiller, creating world's largest beer company". Chicago Tribune.
5. Naczek, Margaret. (October 30, 2019). "Molson Coors Dropping Miller Name as It Rebrands the Company".
6. (October 30, 2019). "Molson Coors CEO Hattersley: Revitalization plan 'will put us on the path to growth'".
7. Martin, Andrew. (October 10, 2007). "Merger for SABMiller and Molson Coors". [[The New York Times]].
8. Daykin, Tom. (2008-06-05). "U.S. signs off on Miller, Coors merger". [[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]].
9. Craver, Richard. (2016-09-15). "MillerCoors to close Eden brewery in September 2016". [[Winston-Salem Journal]].
10. Davis, Jonnellle. (2016-05-16). "Pabst's sues MillerCoors about Eden closure". [[News & Record]].
11. Justin, Kendall. (2018-11-29). "Pabst, MillerCoors Reach Settlement in Contract Brewing Dispute". BrewBound.
12. Nurin, Tara. (July 20, 2016). "DOJ Approves Largest Beer Merger In Global History, With Significant Conditions".
13. (October 11, 2016). "Molson Coors Completes Acquisition of Full Ownership of MillerCoors and Global Miller Brand Portfolio". Molson Coors.
14. Frost, Peter J. (October 11, 2016). "How the new reorg will—and won't—change MillerCoors". Crain Communication, Inc..
15. Daykin, Tom. (October 30, 2019). "Brewing Titan Molson Coors Undergoes Name Change, Looks to Cut up to 500 Jobs".
16. (October 30, 2019). "Molson Coors CEO Hattersley: Revitalization plan 'will put us on the path to growth'".