Seagram
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.
| Seagram's | |
| Industry | Beverages |
| Founded | 1857, in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada |
| Defunct | 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 Diageo Universal Music Group Comcast |
| Headquarters | , 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.