Seagram
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Image:Seagrams company logo.jpg The Seagram Company Ltd. was a large corporation headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that was the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world. Towards the end of its independent existence it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures. The Seagram assets have since been acquired by other companies, notably Pepsico, Diageo, and Pernod Ricard.
The famous Seagram Building, the company's American headquarters office tower at 375 Park Avenue in New York City, was designed by architects Ludwig Mies van der Rohe with Philip Johnson.
History
In 1857, a distillery was founded in Waterloo, Ontario. Joseph E. Seagram became a partner in 1869 and sole owner in 1883, and the company became known as Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. Many decades later, Samuel Bronfman founded Distillers Corporation Limited, in Montreal, which enjoyed substantial growth in the 1920s, in part due to Prohibition in the United States of America.
A few years after the death of Joseph E. Seagram, in 1928 the Distillers Corporation acquired Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, and took over the Seagram name. The company was well prepared for the end of Prohibition in 1933 with an ample stock of aged whiskeys ready to sell to the newly opened American market, and it prospered accordingly. Thus despite its earlier Waterloo history, the Seagram name is most closely associated with the Bronfman family. However, it is not correct to say, as is often done, that Samuel Bronfman founded Seagram, since the Seagram name itself pre-dated the company he founded.
After the death of Samuel Bronfman in 1971, Edgar M. Bronfman was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until June of 1994 when his son, Edgar Bronfman, Jr., was appointed CEO.
In 1981, cash rich and wanting to diversify, Seagram Company Ltd. engineered a takeover of Conoco Inc., a major American oil and gas producing company. Although Seagram acquired a 32.2% stake in Conoco, DuPont was brought in as a white knight and entered the bidding war. In the end, Seagram lost out, but in exchange for its stake in Conoco Inc, it became a 24.3% owner of DuPont. By 1995 Seagram was DuPont's largest single shareholder with four seats on the board of directors. At the time, the DuPont investment accounted for 70% of Seagram's earnings.
In 1987, Seagrams engineered a $1.2-billion takeover of important French cognac maker Martell & Cie.
On April 6, 1995, DuPont announced a deal whereby the company would buy back the Seagram shares. The move was heavily criticized by the investment community, and Standard & Poor took the unusual step of stating that the sale of the DuPont interest could result in a downgrade of Seagram's more than $4.2-billion of long-term debt. This divestiture was the initiative of Edgar Bronfman, Jr., grandson of Samuel Bronfman, who wanted Seagram to branch out into the entertainment business. Bronfman, Jr. used the proceeds of the sale to help acquire Universal Studios, MCA, PolyGram, and Deutsche Grammophon. Seagram also gained control of a number of Universal theme parks.
Noted brand names owned by Seagram included Chivas Regal, Crown Royal, and VO whiskeys, Captain Morgan rum and Tropicana fruit juice, today owned by Pernod Ricard and Pepsico, Inc., respectively. The Seagram brand name lives on in Pernod products such as "Seagram's Gin" and "Seagram's Coolers" and in Diageo product Seagram's Seven Crown.
In 2000, controlling interest in Seagram's entertainment division was acquired by the Vivendi Group, and the beverage division by Pernod Ricard. By the time Vivendi auctioned off Seagram's drink business, beyond its original high-profle brand names the once renowned operation consisted of around two hundred and fifty drinks brands and brand extensions.
On April 19, 2006, Seagram's announced that they would be closing their Lawrenceburg, Indiana plant.
Miscellaneous
- The former Seagram headquarters in Montreal now belongs to McGill University, under the name "Martlet House".
- The original Seagram distillery in Waterloo existed for several years as the Seagram Museum before being forced to close in 1997 for lack of funds. The building is now the home of the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The two original barrel houses are now the Seagrams Lofts condominiums. There is also almost five acres of land to be developed in the future.de:Seagram