‘They’re Forgetting Their Roots’: BrewDog in Hot Water Again After Canceling Annual Party for Fans and Shareholders Despite Major Budweiser Deal

(Photo: Simon Jacobs/PA Wire/AP Images)

After numerous controversies, BrewDog is again facing fallout from fans and shareholders after CEO James Watt announced the cancellation of the brand’s annual event in Aberdeen. BrewDog argued the event was costing the business too much money, despite a recent deal with Budweiser to expand its distribution into China. 

BrewDog announced the cancellation through an email to its investors known as Equity Punks. 

The Equity for Punks scheme started in 2010, which the brand advertised as, “the opportunity to buy shares in BrewDog and become involved in everything we do.” However, many have complained that there is no clear equity and in essence, the program is closer to Kickstarter or a membership scheme. 

One of the main benefits listed for being an Equity Punk was an invitation to the Annual General Mayhem event.

“The AGM was really the only reason to be a shareholder. It’s not like you’re ever going to make any cash from the shares,” one shareholder told The Scottish Sun. 

Another said, “They’re forgetting their roots and all the support they’ve had from Aberdeen.”

The email sent to Equity Punks by BrewDog read, “The Aberdeen AGMs are always very expensive to host, events are not our core business and more often than not we have to pull in agency staff. This then means we often end up delivering suboptimal experiences to our community.”

The 2023 AGM will instead be downsized to smaller venues spread all over the world. The new event will be held throughout all of the BrewDog bars on April 22. 

Watt argued, “I think it is important, that as shareholders, you take note of this point: In a year when all UK hospitality businesses are fighting hard to avoid closures and protect jobs due to an unprecedented inflationary environment to lose £1million on an event when we could do something which helped support our bars would have been imprudent.”

This wouldn’t be the first time the Equity Punks weren’t a priority for BrewDogs. As reported by Vinepair, TSG Consumer Partners invested around £213 million (about $256 million) for approximately 22% of BrewDog in 2017. However, the equity company was guaranteed an 18% compounding annual return on its 22% holding according to Financial Times.

Equity Punks have no such deal to get returns on the millions of dollars they have invested over the years to allow BrewDog to become what it is today.

Despite seemly endless controversies BrewDog continues to grow. On Feb 20, they announced a new partnership with Budweiser to expand into China. 

“Today, we are excited to share the news of the next partnership – one that will bring our beers to every corner of the world’s biggest beer market. China. About a fifth of the world’s beer is drunk in China, and yet the country accounts for less than one percent of our global sales – this is something we are determined to change,” read the press release. 

This new deal comes months after Watt took to Twitter labeling itself an anti-sponsor of the Qatar World Cup due to the country’s human rights record. This was in direct opposition to Budweiser, the sole alcohol sponsor of the event. Despite its former stance, BrewDog doesn’t appear to be all that bothered by China’s record of human rights and is moving forward with plans for expansion in the country. 

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