Everything that George Clooney touches (well, almost everything he touches) seems to turn to gold. Just two weeks after welcoming twins with his human rights lawyer wife, Amal (Alamuddin) Clooney, it was announced Wednesday that the Money Monster star (pun intended) is selling his tequila company Casamigos — that he owns with entertainment mogul Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford’s husband) and real estate developer Michael Meldman — to the British alcohol company Diageo for somewhere in the neighborhood of one billion dollars.
Chump change, to these high rollers, am I right?
On the deal, Clooney told CNBC in an email, “If you asked us four years ago if we had a billion dollar company, I don’t think we would have said yes. This reflects Diageo’s belief in our company and our belief in Diageo. But we’re not going anywhere. We’ll still be very much a part of Casamigos. Starting with a shot tonight. Maybe two.”
Clooney and Gerber originally started Casamigos, which means “house of friends” in Spanish, as a private collection of tequilas strictly for friends and family, but went public with the business in 2013. In hindsight, clearly that was a savvy move on their part!
Shortly after the news broke, “George Clooney” began trending on Twitter as the internet erupted in a mix of jokes and awe at the guy who already had everything before he found himself $1 billion richer.
https://twitter.com/erikmal/status/877559398729621504
That's the type billionaire I want to be, like George Clooney-where nobody knows you have a billion til you sell your business. pic.twitter.com/Pw5L5h5R9u
— nicki 🌊 (@nickiknowsnada) June 21, 2017
I'm glad that things are finally working out for George Clooney and Randy Gerber. #casamigos
— Stan Dingwater (@standingh20) June 21, 2017
Keep in mind that all of George Clooney's retail experience comes from his time working at Edna's Edibles. pic.twitter.com/ybjGPjeGKZ
— Mr. Newberger (@jeremynewberger) June 21, 2017
Just what George Clooney needed — a billion dollars. https://t.co/4Vvues3h2S
— 🇺🇸(((Daniel Gill))) 🇺🇦 (@DanielHGill) June 21, 2017
https://twitter.com/Home_Halfway/status/877596859359002625
It would be a nice gesture if George Clooney used some of that billion dollars to give everyone who saw Batman & Robin a refund.
— Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) June 21, 2017
George Clooney and partners sell Casamigos #tequila to Diageo for US$700 mln, plus up to $300 mln more over 10 years based on performance. pic.twitter.com/n2rNLBPSqU
— Richard Dettman (@rwdettman) June 21, 2017
George Clooney just sold his tequila company for one billion dollars. It was the first tequila brand whose bottle had nipples.
— Othy (@othy) June 21, 2017
George Clooney, right, seen leaving Casamigos following the close of his $1 billion Diageo deal pic.twitter.com/luegt6zNuc
— Rudy Havenstein, Senior Markets Commentator. (@RudyHavenstein) June 21, 2017
George Clooney just sold his tequila business for $1 billion. He might be wealthy beyond belief but at least he's not handsom- ah, nevermind
— Rich Goeckel (@RichGoeckel) June 21, 2017
George Clooney sold his tequila company for $1,000,000,000. #ChaChing https://t.co/2N6M9HDL1a pic.twitter.com/8pIhwWydBa
— K92 (@K92radio) June 21, 2017
Sadly, this probably means we won’t be getting a much needed update on Booker in the Roseanne revival, if that wasn’t already apparent.