Did the Ukrainian beverage company Obolon buy a traditional Czech beer brand, Braník, a lager brewed by Pivovary Staropramen, part of the Molson Coors Beverage Company? No, that's not true: A spokeswoman for Pivovary Staropramen confirmed to Lead Stories that there was no such deal and that the information was false.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) published on TikTok on October 7, 2024. It contained a screenshot of an alleged article from Novinky.cz, a Czech news website claiming that Ukrainian beverage producer Obolon bought the Czech traditional beer label Braník. It contained a Czech text overlay on the video, translated by Lead Stories staff as:
Let it not be true.
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Oct 9 09:00:05 2024 UTC)
A spokeswoman for Pivovary Staropramen, Denisa Mylbachrova (archived here), wrote in an email to Lead Stories on October 8, 2024, that (as translated) "this information is not based on truth because the Braník beer brand is part of Pivovary Staropramen's product portfolio."
Pivovary Staropramen (archived here) is one of the largest Czech brewers, producing a range of traditional lagers such as Braník or Staropramen brands (archived here), as well as other specialty beers. Since 2013 (archived here), the brewery has been owned by the US-based Molson Coors Beverage Company, a holding firm (archived here), whose shares are listed on the NYSE and TSE stock exchanges (archived here).
As a publicly traded company, Molson Coors is subject to stock exchange rules (archived here) and regulations that require listed companies to disclose all events to shareholders promptly. These obligations protect investors from risk and give them access to news that may affect their investment decisions. For Molson Coors, it would also include, for example, announcing the disposal of any of its assets, or the sale of one of any of its brands, such as Braník.
The Czech news website Novinky.cz (archived here) did not carry an article about the Obolon and Braník alleged deal. The news website did publish, though, a text on October 11, 2024, saying the statement was a hoax and that the image shown in the TikTok copied Novinky´s web graphic (see the screenshot below).
(Source: Novinky screenshot taken on Oct 14 09:00:05 2024 UTC)
Also, a Google search of the phrase "Obolon koupil Braník," which translates as "Obolon bought Braník" to English, carried out on October 15, 2024, did not produce any relevant results that could support the claim (archived here).
