I hadn't seen it mentioned here, and maybe it belongs on the main page for wider discussion, but American Brewing in Edmonds went public last week. What does everyone think about it in particular, and the idea of craft brewers going public in general? From this article, it seems like day-to-day operations won't change much, at least for now, but folks are gonna want to see a ROI. Discuss.
Maybe this is a simplistic point of view, but privately owned breweries want to see a ROI too. Going public is just one of many methods available to a business to raise capital. A lot of publicly held companies make popular products that we all use and enjoy. 1. Brew good beer 2. Market it effectively 3. Profit
Well, Neal says just that in the article. He also describes that, due to the various types of stock, he will remain, fundamentally, the sole decision maker. But, my thoughts were more along the lines of: even a lot of the privately held breweries have folks who invested in them, and they get some return, but we don't know how much. ABC will have to file the reports stating this. This will give us an idea of how profitable these size breweries are in general. What about long-term? Some of our regional breweries are 20-ish years old now. What about when the owners want to get out? Would they just close the doors, sell to someone outside the brewery, sell to employees? How are these decisions changed by being a publicly held company? Employees, most smaller breweries don't really have any excess staff to start with, but would shareholders like to see a workforce reduction, to bump profits? These were the kinds of things I wondered about. But, I think more than I should, given my limited abilities.
DOH!!! Forgot the link: http://americancraftbeer.com/item/t...ewing-s-neil-fallon.html#.U-pDMuSybUI.twitter
