Prime Drink's Australian Company Collapses Into Administration, Owing Millions With Just $85,000 Left

The Australian arm of Congo Brands, the company behind Logan Paul and KSI's Prime sports and energy drinks, has collapsed into administration, with financial records showing millions of dollars in debt and just $85,000 remaining in the bank.

Administrator Alice Fay Ruhe of The Ruhe Group was appointed this week to oversee Congo Brands Australia, with the company's first creditors meeting scheduled to be held next Friday. Congo Brands Australia is the local entity behind the influencer-founded beverage brands, including Prime and Lunchly, the latter of which was jointly founded with fellow content creator MrBeast.

Prime, launched globally in 2022, quickly became a phenomenon among Australian schoolchildren, fueled by intense promotional pushes from Logan Paul and KSI, the two social media influencers whose combined YouTube followings exceed 40 million subscribers. The drink's hype-driven launch mirrored its international rollout in the United States and United Kingdom, where limited availability and viral social media attention led to bottles reselling for hundreds of dollars during the brand's early peak.

According to Congo Brands Australia's most recent financial report, lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in September last year, the company's sales had halved from the previous year, falling to $14.5 million from $31 million. The Melbourne-based company posted a net loss of $1.42 million for the 2024 financial year, alongside $7.92 million in total debts and just $84,855 in cash on hand at the time of the filing.

The financial deterioration extended to the company's inventory position as well. Between 2023 and 2024, Congo Brands Australia's inventory holdings dropped sharply, falling from $28.9 million to $1.7 million, a decline that included a $4.57 million writedown of unsold stock, reflecting the sharp cooling of demand for the once-hyped beverage brand within the Australian market.

The company's financial report identifies Congo's U.S.-based founder, Max Clemons, and Peter Davison as directors of the Australian arm. The filing states that Congo Brands Australia is reliant on its Kentucky-based global parent company to meet its financial obligations, adding that the local subsidiary had received a "commitment to support the company for the foreseeable future" from the U.S. holding company at the time the report was lodged.

The move into administration follows separate legal action taken against the company earlier this year. Packaging supplier Orora Group filed a lawsuit in the Federal Court in June seeking to wind up Congo Brands Australia. Details of that case have not been made publicly available, though wind-up applications of this kind are typically brought by creditors seeking to force a company into liquidation over unpaid debts. A hearing in that Federal Court matter has been scheduled for July 31.

Prime's rapid rise and more recent decline have played out on a global scale well beyond Australia. Founded by YouTubers Logan Paul and Olajide "KSI" Olatunji in partnership with Congo Brands, co-owned by American businessmen Max Clemons and Trey Steiger, Prime Hydration generated an estimated $250 million in retail sales during its debut year in 2022, according to reporting from The Washington Post. The brand went on to secure high-profile sponsorship deals with organizations including Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona, the UFC and the Los Angeles Dodgers, further cementing its visibility during its peak years of popularity.

That early success, however, has not been without controversy or legal challenges. In 2023, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Prime Hydration in California federal court alleging the presence of undisclosed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, in certain flavors of the drink, a claim Paul disputed at the time by citing levels well below thresholds considered reliable under Environmental Protection Agency standards. That same year, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called on the Food and Drug Administration to investigate Prime's energy drink variant, describing it as a "cauldron of caffeine" and raising concerns about its marketing to children given the product's 200 milligrams of caffeine per 12-ounce can. Prime has also faced a separate lawsuit from bottling company Refresco, which alleged in 2024 that the beverage brand backed out of a manufacturing agreement, with Refresco seeking $67.7 million in damages.

Beyond the legal disputes, Prime's broader market position has cooled considerably since its 2023 peak. According to Wikipedia's entry on the brand, Prime Hydration's popularity had significantly declined by mid-2025, with Prime Energy cans discontinued entirely in some markets as consumer interest shifted away from the once-viral product. The company has continued attempting to diversify its offerings, announcing a Prime Protein line in January 2026, though it remains unclear whether that expansion has meaningfully offset the broader downturn in sales reflected in the Australian subsidiary's most recent financial disclosures.

Prime's ownership structure remains privately held, with Congo Brands controlling approximately 60 percent of the overall company and Logan Paul and KSI each holding roughly 20 percent equity stakes. Despite that minority ownership position, both influencers have continued to publicly position themselves as founders and central decision-makers behind the brand, particularly in their respective marketing efforts across American and European markets.

Neither Congo Brands, Logan Paul nor KSI has issued a public statement specifically addressing the administration of the company's Australian subsidiary as of this report. The appointment of an administrator does not necessarily mean the Australian business will be permanently wound up, as administration processes in Australia are often used to restructure a company's finances, negotiate with creditors, or facilitate a sale of the business as a going concern, with the outcome to be determined following next Friday's creditors meeting.

With the first creditors meeting scheduled for next week and a related Federal Court hearing set for July 31, the coming weeks are expected to provide further clarity on whether Congo Brands Australia can be restructured, sold, or will ultimately be wound down entirely, a process that will also determine what, if any, recovery unsecured creditors of the company can expect given its currently disclosed liabilities.