The brand might be in a tailspin, but Snoop Dogg is still demanding a cut.
A variety of media outlets reported yesterday that the well-known rapper is suing Pabst Brewing Co. over a cut of the money received following its sale from previous owner Dean Metropolous to a pair of private equity firms.
Snoop Dogg is asking for a percentage of the sale price of the Pabst-owned Colt 45 malt liquor brand, which also changed hands in the deal. He was involved in the creation and promotion of Colt 45 Blast, a juice-flavored variation of the brand that launched in 2011 and has since seen sales drop to less than $3 million over the past year.
Last year, Metropolous sold Pabst to a combination of PE firm TSG and beer entrepreneur Eugene Kashper for a reported $700 million. According to Snoop Dogg’s attorney, a portion of those sales were for Colt 45 — and that the rapper’s contract guaranteed him about 10 percent of the sale price of that malt liquor brand.
Terms of Snoop Dogg’s contract with Pabst were reported by Bloomberg, which included the information that Snoop Dogg was entitled to a cut of each case of Blast sold, as well as an upfront fee of $250,000 and promotional bonuses of $20,000 for every 10th mention on stage or in social media.