BrewDog co-founder James Watt is facing complaints to the UK’s data regulatory body amid claims he contacted the brewer’s former shareholders in connection with his bid to buy back the business.
Last week, Watt launched a bid to acquire BrewDog, now owned by the US cannabis-and-beverages business Tilray Brands.
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“We have formally submitted our offer to buy BrewDog,” Watt wrote in a LinkedIn post. “The offer was made by Second Best and sent to Tilray Brands.”
A report from The Guardian on Friday (17 July) said as part of the proposal, a number of shareholders were contacted by Watt to offer them the “exact same stake in Second Best that you once held in BrewDog, for free”.
According to The Guardian, unnamed sources who received an email from Watt said they did not know how he had received their contact information, raising concerns around a possible breach of rules around general data protection regulation (GDPR).
Contacted by Just Drinks on the report, a spokesperson for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said: “We are aware of an incident involving BrewDog and we are assessing the information provided.”
Just Drinks has approached Watt for comment.
In March, Tilray Brands struck several deals to acquire BrewDog assets in the UK, Ireland, the US and Australia.
Watt, who set up BrewDog in 2007, stepped down as CEO two years ago. Fellow co-founder Martin Dickie left the business last year. They were both shareholders at the time of the transactions with Tilray.
Watt had already received criticism following the deals with Tilray.
During his tenure, BrewDog’s Equity for Punks crowdfunding scheme raised money for the business, with the last fundraising round taking place in 2021.
However, the so-called equity punk investors received no return after Tilray bought the assets from the loss-making business.
Watt revealed plans to launch his new beer business Second Best in May.
At that time, he said he would allocate up to 19.3% of the beer business to former shareholders in BrewDog.
In his LinkedIn post last week, Watt said “43,000 equity punks have already joined the bid”.
He added: “If we succeed, every registered punk gets their BrewDog equity back for free. We’d also restore the Real Living Wage, bring back the team’s equity and put the community back at the heart of the business.
“The punks and the crew built this company and BrewDog deserves to belong to them once more.”
In a statement to Just Drinks, Tilray Brands said it “did not acquire Equity for Punk shareholder data as part of its acquisition of the BrewDog brand and assets; that records system remains under the control of BrewDog plc (in administration)”.
It added: “For the avoidance of doubt, Tilray Brands (trading as BrewDog) and its current management team have no involvement in, affiliation with, or responsibility for James Watt’s business activities, including Second Best. Tilray Brands did not authorise, facilitate, or participate in the communications reportedly sent to former Equity for Punks investors and did not authorize the use of any acquired data for such purposes.
“We take data privacy with the utmost seriousness and can categorically confirm that no data held by Tilray Brands has been shared with external entities or former directors. All communications with our customer base are conducted in strict compliance with GDPR. We have no visibility into, or control over, the data practices of unconnected third-party brands, and any questions regarding those communications or the source of the recipient data should be directed to the sender.”
Alix Partners, which assisted in the sale of BrewDog assets to Tilray earlier this year, declined to comment on the news.
