Six Years After Acquisition, AB InBev Sells Master of Malt Back to Founder

AB InBev has sold digital retailer Master of Malt and its parent company Atom Group back to founder Justin Petszaft for an undisclosed sum just six years after its acquisition.

ZX Ventures, AB InBev’s growth and innovation unit, completed the initial purchase for an undisclosed amount in April 2018. The sale included Atom Group and the four units under its umbrella: spirits producer Atom Brands, Master of Malt, wholesaler Master of Malt Trade, and distributor Maverick Drinks. According to The Spirits Business (TSB), Petszaft said he was “over the moon” when AB InBev approached him with a potential buyback offer that took several weeks to complete. Now, all of Atom’s businesses are once again entirely founder-owned.

“I could not be more grateful to AB InBev for their support over the years, and their unparalleled professionalism and decency in recognizing that Atom could only reach its full potential as an independent founder-led company and facilitating the transition back to independence,” said Petszaft, according to TSB.

Petszaft launched the Master of Malt in 1999. Today, the site is widely regarded as the top whiskey retailer in the world, offering thousands of spirits across a handful of spirits categories including whiskey, rum, and gin. At the time of the AB InBev purchase, the Atom team believed the sale would allow Atom Group to expand its global operations and scale up its e-commerce business.

“In April 2018, we decided that the best way forward to grow the business would be to find a new owner,” Petszaft explained. “We went into the AB InBev relationship with a lot of excitement and energy, and a lot of hope about what could be accomplished together; we felt they were as ambitious and excited by how technology could transform the drinks industry as we were.”

According to TSB, Petszaft revealed that while under the conglomerate’s control, it “became clear that Atom was still too early in its lifecycle to fit well within AB InBev and make the most of the resources available.” He further explained that Atom functions more like a startup than a more mature and scalable business, which likely contributed to AB InBev’s decision to offload.

Petszaft says the new focus for Atom Group will be on building a “beautiful ecosystem comprising every link in the premium spirits value chain” that will be open to the rest of the industry as a platform and service provider.

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