Miller Brewing Company

History

Miller Brewing Company was founded in 1855 by Frederick Miller after emigrating from Hohenzollern, Germany in 1854 with a unique brewer's yeast. Initially, he purchased the small Plank Road Brewery in Milwaukee for $2300. The brewery's location in the Miller Valley in Milwaukee provided easy access to raw materials produced on nearby farms. In 1855, Miller changed its name to Miller Brewing Company, Inc. The enterprise remained in the family until 1966.

In 1966, the conglomerate W. R. Grace and Company bought Miller from Mrs. Lorraine John Mulberger (Frederick Miller's granddaughter, who objected to alcohol) and her family. In 1969, Philip Morris (now Altria) bought Miller from W.R. Grace for $130 million, outbidding PepsiCo. In 2002, South African Breweries bought Miller from Philip Morris for $3.6 billion worth of stock and $2 billion in debt to form SABMiller, with Philip Morris retaining a 36% ownership share and 24.99% voting rights.

In 2006, Miller Brewing purchased Sparks and Steel Reserve brands from McKenzie River Corporation for $215 million cash. Miller had been producing both brands prior to this purchase.

In 2007, SABMiller and Molson Coors combined their U.S. operations in a joint venture called MillerCoors. SABMiller owned 58% of the unit, which operated in the United States but not in Canada, where Molson Coors is strongest. Molson Coors owned the rest of the joint venture, but the companies had equal voting power.

Sole ownership by Molson Coors

In September 2015 Anheuser-Busch Inbev announced that it had reached a full agreement to acquire SABMiller for $107 Billion dollars, As part of the agreement with U.S. regulators for acquiring SABMiller AB-Inbev agreed to sell its 58 percent interest in MillerCoors to Molson Coors for $12 Billion dollars The merger was completed on October 10, 2016.

In order to obtain approval for the merger from the U.S. Justice Department, SABMiller agreed to divest itself of the Miller brands in the US and Puerto Rico by selling its stake in MillerCoors to Molson Coors Brewing Company.

Consequently, on October 11, 2016, SABMiller in the U.S. sold its interests in MillerCoors to Molson Coors who had been its partner in the joint venture, for around US $12 billion. Molson Coors gained full ownership of the Miller brand portfolio outside of the U.S. and Puerto Rico, and retained the rights to all of the brands that were in the MillerCoors portfolio for the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

In Canada, Molson Coors regained the right (from SABMiller) to make and market Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite. In the U.S. however, the change in ownership of MillerCoors/Miller Brewing Company will not be apparent to consumers or to employees.

Hamm's beers

Miller bought the rights to the Hamm's Brewery brands.

Plank Road Brewery beers

This division is named for the 19th-century name for west State Street in Milwaukee (formerly known for its full length outside of Milwaukee as the Watertown Plank Road), where the main Miller brewery has been located since its founding.

Sponsorships

Miller has been a motorsport sponsor since the 1980s. In the CART World Series, the company has sponsored drivers such as Al Unser (1984), Danny Sullivan (1985-1989, 1991), Roberto Guerrero (1990), Bobby Rahal (1992-1998) and Kenny Bräck (2003). It also sponsored the Miller 200 race at Mid-Ohio.

In NASCAR Cup Series, Miller has sponsored Bobby Allison from 1983 to 1988, Rusty Wallace from 1990 to 2005, Kurt Busch from 2006 to 2010, and Brad Keselowski since 2011. Allison won the 1983 NASCAR Winston Cup Series, and Keselowski won the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Also, the company has sponsored the Miller High Life 500, Miller 500, Miller High Life 400, Miller 400, Miller 300, Miller 200 and Miller 150 races.

In NHRA, Miller sponsored Larry Dixon for 11 years, ending their relationship in 2007.