Brown-Forman shares lose 60% over five years as Jack Daniel’s demand falls
The Brown-Forman family, which has controlled the Jack Daniel’s whiskey parent for more than 150 years, is engaged in an internal fight to preserve that control as the company faces shrinking profits, declining Jack Daniel’s sales, and a $15 billion hostile takeover bid from an unnamed crosstown rival, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The company’s chief executive is also preparing to depart, according to the Journal.
The hostile bid, characterized in the Journal’s 10-Point newsletter as coming from a “crosstown rival,” was not attributed to a named company in the newsletter summary. The $15 billion offer arrived as Brown-Forman shares have lost 60% of their value over five years, and the Journal reported that consumers are drinking less of Jack Daniel’s, the company’s flagship whiskey, contributing to shrinking profits. The newsletter summary did not detail the departure timeline for the chief executive, identify the outgoing executive, or name a successor.
WSJ reporter Laura Cooper examined the internal rift among family members who have controlled Brown-Forman for more than 150 years. The newsletter described the situation as an “intense family drama” without detailing the specific terms of the dispute or identifying the family members in conflict. Cooper’s reporting is the basis for the Journal’s account of the family-control story.