Have you ever thought to yourself, "Man, owning a brewery would be awesome. But how am I going to pay for it?" Well, thats exactly what Michael Migliozzi II and Brian William Flatow were thinking when they tried to buy the Pabst Brewing Company. They decided that they could raise the $300 million for the purchase by creating a website (BuyABeerCompany.com, no longer active) and promising beer to those that would invest. It didn't turn out so well for them.
The Securities and Exchange Commission found out about their not so little plan and decided that it was illegal if they weren't going to report their securities to the Commission. They were issued a cease-and-desist order and stopped their solicitation of the public. By the time the SEC intervened, they had collected over $200 million dollars.
Moral of the story, if you are going to collect funds from the public to buy or build a brewery, remember to register with the SEC. Who knew a company that contracts out the production of their beer, was worth $300 million dollars? More importantly, why would so many people give some random guys money in the hopes of getting some beer in return. For all the investors knew, they were going to be rewarded with a bottle of Colt 45, which is a product of the Pabst Brewing Company.
For more info,
go here.
