George Clooney Sells His Tequila for $1 Billion  

The age verification block that pops up on Casamigos Tequila’s features a prominent picture of the brand founders, restaurateur Rande Berger and TV Guide’s ‘Sexiest Star of All Time’ George Clooney, beaming as they’re surrounded by equally jubilant workers presumably from their distillery. As it turns out, there’s good reason for that glee as the company just announced its acquisition by global spirits conglomerate Diageo for a cool $1 billion.

The luxe spirit took form in the early noughties, when old drinking buddies Berger and Clooney decided to use their wealth and power to create a tequila which suited exactly their palate. After locating a distillery in Mexico and a fellow investor in friend Michael Meldan, followed by months of ‘research’ and tastings, the distiller finally hit the perfect blend. Finding it ideal to their palate, the friends proceeded to christen their baby ‘Casamigos’ (roughly translating to ‘house of friends’) and bottling it to the tune of roughly a thousand bottles a year and distributing it among friends and family with largesse apart from their own private and copious consumption. In a couple of years, after being told by their distiller that they were drinking and distributing away what amounted to a business and it needed to be licensed for them to continue, Casamigos Tequila was introduced to the drinking public.

The relatively inexpensive brand, which comes in a range of colours and qualities, has won a large following, no doubt helped by its quick acceptance among the swish set and celebrati, and the obvious marketability of its face and owner. That being said, Casamigos has also found favour among tequila enthusiasts, critics, mixologists and other industry experts. All these factors have led to Diageo’s purchase of the boutique label, adding it to a portfolio that also includes Johnnie Walker, Talisker, Guinness and Tanqueray among a bevy of other legacy brands. Industry sources say that the deal comprises an initial settlement of 700 million, followed by a pay-out of 300 million dependent on the brand’s performance.