Stone Brewing Announces Maria Stipp as CEO

...“Maria has all the qualities we were looking for in a CEO,” ...Stipp spent the past five years as CEO of Lagunitas Brewing Company. ...

So, she has guided Lagunitas through the buy out by Heineken, and she "has all the qualities" they are looking for...

 

With the damage they've done to their brand they may as well cash out asap

 

Lagunitas to Stone doesn't seem to be a step up.

 

@MNAle beat me to it.

When I was reading she was the CEO of Lagunitas for the past five years a 'lightbulb' went off with the thought: when did Lagunitas sell out to Heineken? I did a quick web search to remind myself:

"Lagunitas Brewing is selling its remaining 50 percent stake to Heineken International, which will place the California and Chicago-based brewery under full control of the world's second-largest beer company. Heineken first bought half of Lagunitas in September 2015."

The completion of the sale was in the spring of 2017.

Yup, Maria may have exactly the experience that both Greg Koch and Steve Wagner are seeking. A business strategy akin to the underpants gnomes?



Except for Greg and Steve Phase 3 is "Payday"?

Cheers!

 

Why would she care. Folks at that level are guaranteed a HUGE bonus, or if they are a disaster an even bigger severence package.

 

And perhaps she has a sweet deal in her employment contact when she fosters the sale of Stone Brewing to XYZ Capital Group? Maybe she gets to fully participate in Phase 3?

Cheers!

 

I wonder if Maria has past experience in taking legal actions against other companies for alleged trademark infringement. If so, when she starts in two weeks she can ‘hit the ground running’ in supporting the Stone legal team.

Cheers!

 

She does seem like a multi-talented professional. She is good at what she does and a good leader can fix things fast.

 

I'm cautiously optimistic (which is always my starting point). She had experience in the industry and is nice to have a women as CEO. Yes, the tea leaves read that her experience most recently is selling a company, but let's be honest, Stone would be stupid not to have that as a business option moving forward.

It would be helpful to show where she built or recovered a business. Stone has problems, but I think/hope that it's still recoverable. They have gone mainstream, but still can pull in the craft beer geeks of 5-10 years ago with a program of bringing back some of their beers in limited releases. Hell, they bring back Double Bastard and I'm buying!

In either case, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

Going through an acquisition could also help identify things to do to avoid an acquisition. It would be safe to assume that in the 5 years at Lagunitas she gained knowledge from Lagunitas and Heineken about how to run a large brewery of comparable size to Stone. Another similarity between Lagunitas and Stone is they both have outspoken founders prone to making statements that get them in trouble. And, if things get really bad for Stone, her experience with an acquisition is a benefit, but I think there's reason to believe that's not solely why she was brought on.

Seems like a good fit.

 

Would it be so bad for Stone to sell? Make a lot of money. You could then start a small brewery making all those old classic Stone beers they stopped making during their run to an IPA brewery.

Enjoy

 

This was exactly my first thought when I saw this as well.

Interesting indeed.

 

I suppose it is a fine line but... there is a difference between an "option" and a planned goal.

Let's see what transpires.

Cheers!

 

Does a tigress change her stripes?

 

I'm not even too concerned if Stone decided to sell all or a large portion of itself to another entity, as a path they've planned for themselves over the years or as a desperation move for what some feel is damage done to their brand recently (I'm not even here to say they have or have not, that's another discussion entirely).

What concerns me is what it means for the brands they distribute when that happens. Whatever affects them doesn't just affect them anymore, it affects a lot of others, big or small. Will a buyout affect how people see the brands they distribute? Will those brands stick with them or try to find other distribution? How does it affect their distribution footprint? I realize their brewing and distribution business are separate but I can't help feel that one will ultimately affect the other.

I don't even know too much about it, it's just something that's been rattling around in my head for about a year and this news is just bringing it out again. Maybe one of you has some insight that I don't see from my perspective and can enlighten me.

 

I'm hoping they sell out to AB InBev. Would be a perfect karmic circle at this point.

 

Interesting. Here are the brands Stone Distributing covers in Southern California, including Beachwood, Bear Republic, Russian River, Fremont, Duvel, Oscar Blues, Victory and many others...

https://www.stonedistributing.com/craft-brands

 

I feel quite sure none of those brands would have a hard time finding another distributor.