lse dge nyse deo iseq gui industry beverages founded 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 london united kingdom headquarters park royal london england united kingdom key people franz humer chairman ivan menezes ceo products alcoholic beverages spirits beer and wine revenue 10.813 billion 2015 1 operating income 2.797 billion 2015 1 net income 2.467 billion 2015 1 number of employees 33 000 2016 2 subsidiaries united spirits website www.diageo.com diageo plc di i o ; other possibilities are da i o 3 or di d io 4 is a british multinational alcoholic beverages company with its headquarters in london england . it is the world s largest producer of spirits and a major producer of beer . 5 6 diageo s brands include smirnoff the world s best selling vodka 7 johnnie walker the world s best selling blended scotch whisky 8 baileys the world s best selling liqueur 9 and guinness the world s best selling stout . 10 11 it also owns 34 % of mo t hennessy which owns brands including mo t & chandon veuve clicquot and hennessy . 12 13 it sells its products in over 180 countries and has offices in around 80 countries . 14 15 diageo has a primary listing on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . it has a secondary listing on the new york stock exchange . contents 1 name 2 history 3 products 4 operations 4.1 head office 5 controversies 6 references 7 external links name edit diageo is an invented name that was created by the branding consultancy wolff olins in 1997 . 16 the name is composed of the latin word dia meaning day and the greek root geo meaning world and is meant to reference the company giving pleasure every day everywhere . 16 17 history edit diageo was formed in 1997 from the merger of guinness and grand metropolitan . 18 the creation was driven by the executives anthony greener and philip yea at guinness 19 plus george bull and john mcgrath of grand metropolitan . 20 shares in diageo began trading on the london stock exchange on 17 december 1997 . 21 diageo owned pillsbury until 2000 when it was sold to general mills . 22 in 2002 diageo sold the burger king fast food restaurant chain to a consortium led by us firm texas pacific for 1.5 billion . 23 in february 2011 diageo agreed to acquire the turkish liquor company mey icki for us 2.1 billion . 24 25 in may 2012 diageo agreed to acquire ypioca the largest selling brand of premium cacha a in brazil for 300 million . 26 in june 2012 diageo announced a 1 billion investment in scotch whisky production over the following five years with at least one new distillery to be constructed several existing facilities to be expanded and overall production capacity to be increased by 30 to 40 per cent . 27 28 this did not however involve retaining the original johnnie walker plant in kilmarnock which had already closed its doors in march the same year . 29 in november 2012 diageo agreed to acquire a 53.4 % stake in the indian spirits company united spirits for 1.28 billion . 30 31 in 2013 diageo joined leading alcohol producers as part of a producers commitments to reducing harmful drinking . 32 in november 2014 diageo agreed to sell bushmills irish whiskey in exchange for 408 million and full ownership of tequila brand don julio . 33 in october 2015 diageo announced the sale of most of its wine business to treasury wine estates . 34 other brands such as navarro correas and chalone vineyard were sold separately . 35 in march 2016 the company sold grand marnier a cognac and bitter orange based liqueur to italian aperitif maker campari group . 36 products edit diageo s beverage brands include 37 beer guinness tusker smithwick s harp lager kilkenny kaliber non alcoholic windhoek scotch whisky johnnie walker buchanan s cardhu justerini & brooks j & b bell s black & white white horse logan caol ila vat 69 oban talisker lagavulin glen ord glenkinchie dalwhinnie cragganmore clynelish singleton haig royal lochnagar glen elgin knockando the dimple pinch vodka smirnoff c roc silent sam popov ketel one gin gordon s tanqueray booth s nolet s gin rum captain morgan bundaberg pampero cacique myers s zacapa bourbon bulleit orphan barrel 38 american whiskey seagram s seven crown canadian whisky crown royal seagram s vo tennessee whiskey george dickel tequila don julio peligroso dele n schnapps black haus rumple minze baijiu shui jing fang n p m i mixed drinks archers pimm s jeremiah weed smirnoff cocktails liqueur baileys sheridans yukon jack godiva diageo also distributes unicum hungarian liqueur its lighter bodied variant zwack and grand marnier which is distributed by diageo in many markets including exclusively in canada and a deal was reached in 2009 to expand significantly this partnership in europe . operations edit diageo is the world s biggest whisky producer with malt distilleries open to the public at blair athol glenkinchie dalwhinnie royal lochnagar cragganmore cardhu glen ord clynelish talisker oban caol ila and lagavulin . 39 other distilleries not open to the public include linkwood 40 knockando 41 auchroisk 42 benrinnes 43 cameron bridge 44 dailuaine 45 dufftown 46 cascade hollow 47 glen elgin 48 strathmill 49 teaninich 50 mannochmore 51 mortlach 52 and glenlossie . 53 it also has a very large distillery at roseisle in speyside . 54 furthermore diageo owns a 34 % stake in the moet hennessy drinks division of french luxury goods company lvmh . 55 diageo s gimli plant in gimli manitoba canada the global supply plant for crown royal top selling canadian whiskey in united states 56 caol ila distillery on the isle of islay scotland sterling vineyards in napa valley california gleneagles hotel in auchterarder scotland st james gate guinness brewery in dublin ireland diageo world headquarters in park royal london head office edit diageo s head office is in park royal london borough of brent 57 58 on a former guinness brewery property . 59 the brewery was closed in 2004 ; it had produced beer since 1936 . 60 in 1996 diageo moved to a head office facility in henrietta place in the marylebone district of the city of westminster in london . 59 61 in 2009 diageo announced that it was closing the henrietta place facility as part of a cost reduction programme . diageo moved its employees to the park royal site . during that year about 1 000 employees were located at the henrietta place and park royal offices . the lease in the henrietta facility was scheduled to expire in 2010 . 59 controversies edit in december 2003 diageo provoked controversy over its decision to change its cardhu brand scotch whisky from a single malt to a vatted blended malt whilst retaining the original name and bottle style . diageo took this action because it did not have sufficient reserves to meet demand in the spanish market where cardhu had been successful . after a meeting of producers diageo agreed to make changes . 62 on 4 february 2004 diageo restated last fiscal year s earnings under u.s. accounting rules reducing net income by 53 million pounds or 97 million . 63 in 2006 the cardhu brand quietly changed back to being a single malt . 64 in july 2009 diageo announced that after nearly 200 years of association with the town of kilmarnock scotland they would be closing the johnnie walker blending and bottling plant 65 as part of restructuring to the business . this would make 700 workers unemployed and caused outrage from press local people and politicians . a campaign against this decision was launched by the local snp msp willie coffey and labour mp des browne . a petition was drawn up against the diageo plans which also involves the closure of the historic port dundas grain distillery in glasgow . 66 part of the johnnie walker operation will be moved to a diageo site at leven fife with the creation of 400 jobs there . 67 as part of this expansion in leven diageo culled a herd of roe deer living on the site to make way for new buildings . 68 in february 2009 it was reported in the guardian that the company had restructured itself so as to avoid paying tax in the uk . 69 the national puerto rican coalition planned to run a series of ads in new york city and puerto rico urging a boycott of diageo owned alcoholic drinks to protest the corporation s production move of its captain morgan rum from puerto rico to the u.s. virgin islands 70 which will provide it with 2.7 billion in tax benefits over 30 years . 71 in 2011 diageo agreed to pay more than 16 million to settle u.s. civil regulatory charges that it made improper payments to foreign officials . regulators accused the british company of violating the u.s. foreign corrupt practices act through its subsidiaries to obtain lucrative sales and tax benefits for its johnnie walker and windsor scotch whiskeys and other brands . the sec said that from 2003 to 2009 diageo paid 2.7 million to foreign officials in india thailand and south korea through its subsidiaries . the settlement includes 11.3 million in disgorgement of profits plus 2.1 million in interest and a 3 million penalty . for years diageo s subsidiaries made hundreds of illicit payments to foreign government officials sec associate director of enforcement scott friestad said in a statement . as a result of diageo s lax oversight and deficient controls the subsidiaries routinely used third parties inflated invoices and other deceptive devices to disguise the true nature of the payments . 72 on 9 may 2012 scottish craft brewery brewdog revealed that diageo had threatened to withdraw funding from bii scotland s annual awards if brewdog was to be named winner of the best bar operator award . diageo was forced to issue an apology . 73 74 75 in 2015 diageo offended survivors of rape and sexual abuse with an advertising campaign showing a young girl being blamed for having been drunk at the time and moreover for having an alcoholic mother . the director of rape crisis network ireland said diageo blames victims of sexual violence for the crimes that have been committed against them . the belief that drunk girls are asking for it is one that needs to be strongly challenged as it is one that we know perpetrators use to select and target their victims knowing this cultural attitude will mean they get away with it . ... this is a harmful regressive and hurtful message which targets the vulnerable . survivors of sexual violence should never be used in this manner . this latest ad builds on the shaming of women theme that can be seen in much drink related campaigning . the out of control campaign which started by asking women if they were embarrassed while they were being photographed without their consent in a potentially compromising position has now progressed to blaming victims of rape for their own rape . 76 references edit a b c annual report 2015 pdf . retrieved 20 march 2016 . our people . diageo . retrieved 20 march 2016 . you tube . you tube . 2010 08 26 . retrieved 2014 05 18 . the only pronunciation in the longman pronunciation dictionary thompson james 27 august 2010 . johnnie walker popularity helps diageo to toast profits . the independent . uk . retrieved 29 august 2010 . categories . diageo plc. retrieved 29 august 2010 . diageo says would look at absolut if up for sale . reuters . 14 march 2007 . retrieved 23 october 2011 . diageo and the brands that make the global drinks