Seagram

**History and Founding:**
– Founded in 1857 as Waterloo Distillery in Ontario, Canada.
– Renamed Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1883.
– Bronfman brothers founded Distillers Corporation Limited in Montreal in 1924.
– Acquired Greenbrier Distillery in the US in 1923.
– Paid $1.5 million fine to US government in the 1930s for delinquent excise taxes.

**Expansion and Diversification:**
– Purchased Texas Pacific Coal and Oil Company in 1963.
– Attempted takeover of Conoco Inc. in 1981.
– Acquired Stonyfell winery in Australia in 1978.
– Took over French cognac maker Martell & Cie in 1987.
– Purchased PolyGram and Deutsche Grammophon in 1998.

**Legacy, Acquisitions, and Demise:**
– Edgar Bronfman Sr. named chairman and CEO in 1971.
– Edgar Bronfman Jr. appointed CEO in 1994.
– Sold stake in DuPont to enter film and electronic media business in 1995.
– Sold Tropicana Products to PepsiCo in 1998.
– Sold entertainment division to Vivendi and beverage division to Pernod Ricard and Diageo in 2000.
– Seagram’s core business broken up and acquired by Pernod Ricard, Infinium Spirits, and Diageo in 2000.

**Legacy Brands and Assets:**
– Seagram name continues with Seagrams Seven Crown and Seagrams V.O.
– Seagrams Escapes by Genesee Brewing and Seagram Island Time by Waterloo Brewing.
– Coca-Cola produces Seagrams Ginger Ale soda line.
– Seagrams House in Montreal was donated to McGill University.
– Seagram Building in NYC designed by Mies van der Rohe is a landmark.

**Ownership, Acquisitions, and Financial Events:**
– North American Breweries holds license from Pernod Ricard for Seagrams brands.
– Lawrenceburg distillery sold to MGP Ingredients in 2011.
– Diageo sold Seagrams VO to Sazerac in 2018.
– Seagram Museum in Waterloo now houses the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
– Seagram distillery in Indiana was closed by Pernod Ricard in 2006.
– Diageo sold 19 brands to Sazerac for $550 million in 2018.

Seagram (Wikipedia)

For other uses, see Seagram (disambiguation).

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The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was in the 1990s the largest owner of alcoholic beverage lines in the world.

The Seagram Company Ltd.

Trade name	Seagram's
Company type	Public
Traded as	TSX: VO NYSE: VO
Industry	Beverages
Founded	1857; 167 years ago (1857), in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Defunct	2000 (2000)
Fate	Seagram's core business was broken up and acquired by Pernod Ricard, Infinium Spirits and Diageo; entertainment assets sold to Vivendi.
Successors	Vivendi Pernod Ricard Infinium Spirits The Coca-Cola Company Diageo Universal Music Group Comcast
Headquarters	Montreal, Quebec , Canada
Number of locations	Burlington Oakville Oshawa Brampton Saskatoon Edmonton Burnaby Waterloo New York City
Key people	Joseph E. Seagram Bronfman family
Products	Alcoholic beverages, Ginger ale, Tonic water, Club soda
Website	seagram.com (archived)

Toward the end of its independent existence, it also controlled various entertainment and other business ventures. Its purchase of MCA Inc., whose assets included Universal Studios and its theme parks, was financed through the sale of Seagram's 25% holding of chemical company DuPont, a position it acquired in 1981.

Seagram later imploded, with its beverage assets wholesaled off to various industry titans, notably Diageo, Infinium Spirits, and Pernod Ricard. Universal's television holdings were sold to media entrepreneur Barry Diller, and the balance of the Universal entertainment empire and what was Seagram was sold to French conglomerate Vivendi in 2000.