Former BrewDog shareholders asked the United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the country’s data protection regulator, to examine how co-founder James Watt obtained their contact details. The ICO said it was aware of an incident involving BrewDog and was assessing the information provided, a preliminary step that did not amount to a formal investigation or a finding that privacy law had been broken.

Watt contacted former investors while seeking to buy BrewDog back from Tilray Brands through his new beer company, Second Best. He said the communication followed legal advice, used lawfully obtained data and concerned the recipients’ legitimate interests as shareholders, but he did not publicly identify the source of the contact details in the cited report.

Support figure comes from Watt

Watt announced the offer on July 15, 2026, and said 43,000 former participants in BrewDog’s Equity for Punks crowdfunding program backed it. He proposed giving those investors the same proportional stake in Second Best that they had held in BrewDog, at no cost. APPI News found no independent confirmation of the 43,000 figure at the time of writing.

Several recipients told The Guardian they did not know how Watt had obtained their details. The newspaper reported that multiple former shareholders had complained to the ICO, while another former investor had raised concerns with Second Best but had not yet filed a regulatory complaint.

The BrewDog bar at Waterloo station in London (file photo)

Tilray denies supplying shareholder records

Tilray said it did not acquire the Equity for Punks shareholder database when it bought selected BrewDog assets. According to the company’s statement reported by The Guardian, the records remained under the control of BrewDog plc, which was in administration. Tilray said it did not authorize, facilitate or participate in Watt’s communications and had not shared its own data with outside entities or former directors.

The statements leave the central factual question unresolved. Watt says the data was obtained lawfully, and Tilray says the shareholder records were outside its acquisition and were not supplied by the company. The ICO had not identified the source of the data or ruled on whether its use complied with UK privacy law when the complaints were reported.

Asset sale left former investors with no return

Tilray reported paying £33 million, about US$44.1 million, for selected BrewDog operations and assets on March 2, 2026. The transaction covered BrewDog’s worldwide intellectual property, its brewery in Scotland, online and retail operations, and 11 brewpubs in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Most liabilities that arose before the sale remained with the BrewDog group.

The Guardian reported that the administration and asset sale made the shares held by more than 200,000 crowdfunding investors worthless. That loss formed the basis of Watt’s promise to restore equivalent holdings in Second Best, but it did not establish that the proposed BrewDog acquisition would proceed.

Tilray’s acquisition announcement described the BrewDog brand, UK brewing operations and 11 brewpubs as part of the completed deal. Tilray later said BrewDog was not for sale. The outcome of Watt’s offer and the ICO’s assessment remained unresolved in the sources reviewed for this report.

Frequently asked questions

What is the UK privacy regulator assessing?
Former shareholders complained after receiving messages from Watt and questioning how he obtained their contact details. The ICO said it was assessing the information supplied, but the cited report did not announce a formal investigation.

Did Tilray say it gave Watt the shareholder list?
No. Tilray said it did not acquire the Equity for Punks shareholder database, did not assist the messages and did not share data it held with Watt or Second Best.

Has Watt’s buyback offer been accepted?
No acceptance was reported in the sources reviewed. Tilray said BrewDog was not for sale, and Watt’s claim that 43,000 former investors supported the proposal remains unverified.