🍷 Casamigos Tequila — Key Facts
| Current Owner | Diageo PLC (LON: DGE / NYSE: DEO) |
| Acquisition Price | Up to $1B ($700M upfront + $300M performance earn-out; 2017) |
| Original Founders | George Clooney, Rande Gerber & Mike Meldman (founded 2013) |
| Name Meaning | “Casa Amigos” = House of Friends (their Mexico vacation homes) |
| Type | Tequila & mezcal (Blanco, Reposado, Anejo, Mezcal) |
| Other Diageo Brands | Johnnie Walker, Guinness, Baileys, Tanqueray, Don Julio, Ciroc |
Casamigos Tequila is owned by Diageo PLC (LON: DGE), the British multinational spirits giant, which acquired the brand in June 2017 for up to $1 billion ($700 million upfront, plus $300 million based on performance over the following decade). Casamigos was co-founded in 2013 by actor George Clooney, entrepreneur Rande Gerber, and real estate developer Mike Meldman — initially created for personal consumption at their neighboring vacation homes in Mexico.
Who Is the Owner of Casamigos?
Casamigos is owned by Diageo PLC, headquartered in London — the world’s largest premium spirits company. When Diageo acquired Casamigos in June 2017, the company paid approximately $700 million upfront — a valuation that seemed extraordinary for a four-year-old brand selling fewer than 200,000 cases annually. The deal included up to $300 million more in performance-based earnout payments over 10 years. George Clooney later noted the founders hadn’t intended to sell — Diageo approached them with an offer they simply couldn’t refuse.
The Origin Story: Friends Making Tequila in Mexico
Casamigos has one of the more charming founding stories in spirits. George Clooney, his friend Rande Gerber (husband of supermodel Cindy Crawford), and real estate developer Mike Meldman owned neighboring vacation homes in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Unhappy with the quality of locally available tequila, the three friends began working with a Jalisco distillery to create their own house tequila. The name “Casamigos” combines “casa” (house) and “amigos” (friends) — literally “house of friends.” They launched commercially in 2013 and built rapid momentum through their celebrity networks before the Diageo acquisition just four years later.
Casamigos and the Celebrity Spirits Boom
Clooney’s $1 billion exit demonstrated that a celebrity-founded premium spirits brand with credible quality could command extraordinary valuations, triggering a wave of celebrity tequila launches: Dwayne Johnson (Teremana), Nick Jonas (Villa One), LeBron James (Lobos 1707), and many others entered the category. The premium tequila category itself has experienced one of the most dramatic growth stories in American spirits, overtaking Scotch whisky by dollar value in the US market — making Diageo’s early bet on Casamigos look particularly prescient.
