The Australian subsidiary of global beverage firm Congo Brands, best known for distributing the viral influencer-backed Prime sports drink co-created by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI, has entered voluntary administration, marking a dramatic collapse for a brand that once took the country’s youth market by storm.
Alice Fay Ruhe from Australia’s The Ruhe Group was appointed this week to take over oversight of Congo Brands Australia, with the first meeting of the company’s creditors scheduled to take place next Friday. Beyond Prime, the local entity also manages Lunchly, a snack brand co-founded by another top social media creator, MrBeast.
First launched in Australia in 2022, Prime quickly exploded in popularity, fueled by massive social media hype from its high-profile co-founders. The caffeinated beverage and sports drink line developed a cult following among Australian schoolchildren, with reports of empty shelves and resold bottles marked up far beyond their retail price in the brand’s early months.
But newly released financial filings tell a story of rapid decline. In its last financial report lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) in September 2024, Congo Brands Australia revealed that annual sales had plummeted by 50% year-over-year, dropping from $31 million in the prior fiscal year to just $14.5 million. The Melbourne-based business posted a net loss of $1.42 million for the 2024 financial year, with total liabilities reaching $7.92 million against a mere $84,855 in available cash holdings.
The company’s inventory also shrank drastically between 2023 and 2024, falling from $28.9 million to just $1.7 million, including a $4.57 million write-down of unsold stock that reflected collapsing consumer demand.
Congo Brands Australia is currently led by Max Clemons, the US-based founder of the parent Congo Brands, and local director Peter Davison. The 2024 financial filing notes that the Australian arm has historically relied on financial backing from the company’s global holding group, headquartered in Kentucky, to meet its payment obligations, and that the parent company had issued a public commitment to support the local subsidiary “for the foreseeable future.”
The move to appoint administrators comes after major Australian packaging firm Orora Group launched a Federal Court lawsuit in June to force Congo Brands Australia into liquidation over unpaid outstanding debts. While full details of the legal dispute remain private, wind-up applications are almost always filed by creditors seeking to recover unpaid funds when a borrower fails to meet its financial obligations. A court hearing for the case is scheduled for July 31.