Seagram
The
Seagram Company Ltd. was a large
corporation headquartered in
Montreal, Quebec,
Canada that was the largest
distiller of
alcoholic beverages in the world. Toward 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.
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 by the oil company and entered the bidding war. In the end, Seagram lost out in the Conoco bidding war. 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.
In 1987, Seagrams engineered a $1.2 billion takeover of important French cognac maker
Martell & Cie.
On April 6, 1995, after being approached by Edgar Bronfman, Jr., DuPont announced a deal whereby the company would buy back its shares from the Seagram company for the amount of $9 billion. Seagram's was heavily criticized by the investment communityâ€"the 24.3% stake in DuPont accounted for 70% of Seagram's earnings.
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.
The rationale for this divestiture was that Edgar Bronfman, Jr., grandson of Samuel Bronfman, 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 Diageo PLC 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, Pernod Ricard announced that they would be closing the Seagram Lawrenceburg Distillery located in
Lawrenceburg, Indiana.
* 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.
