Brewdog founder Watt offers buyback to repay retail investors

James Watt has submitted a formal offer to buy back Brewdog just months after the Scottish craft brewery was acquired by American cannabis and beverage group Tilray. The bid represents Watt's second attempt to reclaim the business he co-founded with Martin Dickie in Aberdeenshire almost 20 years ago, having previously lost out during the firm's insolvency.

Central to the proposal is a pledge to compensate the roughly 20,000 retail investors who bought shares through the company's "Equity for Punks" scheme. Those investors, who typically spent around £500 on shares priced between £20 and £30, saw their holdings wiped out when the company collapsed under more than £500m of debt. The total loss of retail capital highlights the risks inherent in alternative corporate financing models when underlying businesses become overleveraged.

Watt is targeting those who joined his new venture, Second Best, which he launched after departing Brewdog and offered nearly a fifth of its equity to burned Equity Punks. In an email to those investors, seen by BBC Scotland News, Watt wrote: "If successful, everyone who has signed up to Second Best will own the same stake in Brewdog they once held. For free." He added that the firm "should be owned by the equity punks and I will endeavour to ensure that happens".

The buyback attempt follows a spectacular fall for a company once valued at over $1bn and operating four breweries and roughly 100 pubs globally. Watt and Dickie sold a stake to US private equity firm TSG in 2017, netting £50m each. Dickie departed last year citing personal reasons, while Watt stepped down as chief executive in 2024 before the Tilray acquisition resulted in hundreds of job losses.

Brewdog's rapid expansion was accompanied by persistent controversy regarding its corporate governance and workplace culture. Watt recently apologised for the "many mistakes" made in managing the company, admitting it had diversified too quickly. That followed a 2022 BBC investigation alleging inappropriate behaviour towards female staff, import law violations and fabricated marketing, alongside a 2024 backlash over dropping the real living wage for new hires.

Former investors approached by Watt for his new venture have so far expressed scepticism about his plans. Tilray and Second Best have both been asked to comment on the latest buyback letter, leaving the ultimate fate of the brewery and its retail shareholders unresolved.