BrewDog bought by US cannabis and drinks firm for £33m, costing nearly 500 jobs

The UK and Irish assets of BrewDog, the Scottish self-styled “punk” brewer, have been sold to the US cannabis and drinks firm Tilray for £33m, in a deal that will cost nearly 500 jobs and leave legions of the company’s early stage crowdfunders empty-handed.Tilray agreed a deal to buy BrewDog’s brand, intellectual property, UK brewing operations and 11 “strategic” bars in the UK and Ireland, the two companies confirmed, preserving 733 jobs. The remaining 38 bars will close immediately, at a cost of 484 jobs.Tilray said it was negotiating separately to buy BrewDog assets in the US and Australia.“No offer was made at any stage of the sales process, from any prospective bidder, which would have preserved BrewDog in its entirety,” AlixPartners, which acted as the administrator for BrewDog, said in a statement.Unite, the trade union, said: “Nearly 500 livelihoods have been wiped out while yet another corporate deal is stitched together behind closed doors.“The way in which senior management have conducted themselves throughout this sales process has been nothing short of a national disgrace – both the press and Tilray announced the deal before workers were told.”More than 200,000 “equity for punks” investors, many of whom had at one stage hoped to cash in from a stock market float projected to value the company at £2bn, will not receive anything, according to AlixPartners.Unite added: “A company does not lose 97% of its value in the space of nine years without catastrophic mismanagement. Directors past and present pursued reckless expansion and failed strategies, and now workers are paying the price for boardroom failure.”James Watt and Martin Dickie, who co-founded the business in 2007, are thought to have already made £100m between them – three times Monday’s sale price – by cashing out shares in 2017, when the private equity group TSG bought 22% of the company.The Tilray deal comes less than a month after the company put itself up for sale after five years of losses and a string of brand-damaging controversies relating to the treatment of staff, particularly under Watt’s tenure.Several suitors are understood to have circled BrewDog, including the Danish beer company Royal Unibrew and a consortium involving Watt himself, attempting to regain control of a company from which he stepped back less than two years ago.But Tilray’s chair and chief executive, Irwin D Simon, said it had agreed a deal that, he said, would “refocus BrewDog on the craft beer excellence that made it beloved in the first place and strategically invest to return the operations to profitable growth”.Tilray said the separate purchase of BrewDog’s US and Australian assets would probably be closed within 30 days.The 11 UK and Ireland bars that are part of the deal are Birmingham, Dublin, Manchester Peter Street and DogTap Ellon in Aberdeenshire, plus DogHouse and Lothian Road in Edinburgh, and Canary Wharf, Paddington, Seven Dials, Tower Hill and Waterloo in London.US-based Tilray made its name as one of the corporate pioneers of the legal medicinal and “adult use” cannabis industry in the US and Canada.Its stable of products includes recreational products laced with THC, the primary psychoactive component of cannabis, including Chowie Wowie edibles and Bake Sale, a strain with “approachable” THC levels designed for cooking. Headquartered in New York, Tilray exports medicinal cannabis around the world, including to the UK.But it is also one of the largest US craft brewers, after scooping up independent beer companies including Montauk, Terrapin, Green Flash and Redhook Ale. The addition of BrewDog will give Tilray one of the most recognisable brewers in the UK, with five of the top “craft” beer labels, including its flagship Punk IPA and brews such as Hazy Jane and Elvis Juice.But the US company must also address a growing sense, in the UK at least, that a brand once seen as the “punk” upstart to global brewing corporations has lost its challenger status, signalling that “Peak BrewDog” is in the past.The Scottish brewer lost nearly £37m last year as sales growth ground to a virtual halt, capping a rocky period after Watt’s departure as chief executive.During 2025, BrewDog was axed from 2,000 pubs as customers opted for rival brews. It also shut 10 of its own bars, citing tough trading conditions.Founded by Watt and Dickie in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, in 2007, the brand became popular during the 2010s as demand increased for craft beers. It also opened a global network of more than 70 bars. Its rapid growth was underpinned by eye-catching stunts, often taking critical aim at larger rivals.But in 2021, former staff of BrewDog accused the company and Watt of creating a “culture of fear” in which workers were bullied and “treated like objects”. In an open letter that was shared on social media the company was accused of cutting corners on health and safety, espousing values it did not live by, and creating a “toxic” culture that left staff suffering from mental illness.While Watt apologised for some of his conduct, he also hired private investigators to gather intelligence on people he said had maligned him, including by taking part in a BBC documentary.Watt stepped down in 2024 and has since focused on new ventures, including Social Tip, which pays people to make social media posts about brands.He has also maintained a vocal social media presence, criticising taxes on the wealthy, speculating that he may delay his marriage to the reality TV star Georgia Toffolo to maximise tax relief, and attending Nigel Farage’s birthday party.