LVMH Buys 50% of Jay-Z's Champagne Brand As Bernard Arnault Nods To Black Culture's Financial Influence
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Collage Anne of Carversville; images courtesy of VLMH.
In November 2014 Jay-Z led a company that acquired his favorite Champagne brand, eight years after the first bottles of Armand de Brignac Brut Gold left the cellars in France. An early bottle of the new Champagne appeared in Jay-Z’s 2006 music video for ‘Show Me What You Got’, in the midst of the superstar businessman talent’s very public falling out with the makers of Cristal. (Video embed at end of post.) Watching the video shot in Monaco, it’s obvious that the hip hop star was dropping the gauntlet to Cristal.
We know now that Jay-Z was an investor in the actual 2006 launch of Armand. The New York Times wrote in 2006 about Jay Z’s fight with Cristal: “HIP-HOP made Cristal a household name. Can it also unmake it?”
15 years later, Jay-Z appears to be having the last laugh in the Champagne wars, selling a 50 percent stake in Armand de Brignac to LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Jay-Z’s Ace of Spades joins the luxury brand’s other prestige labels including Dom Pérignon, Moët & Chandon, Ruinart, Krug and Veuve Clicquot. Both parties must agree to major decisions for the company.
Most important, the partnership cements the luxury company’s ties with the entertainment industry and also to the growing embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement by progressives of every ethnic background and skin color. AOC has long lived in this atmosphere, but something very major is happening around us.
Bernaud Arnaud’s Brilliant Moves with Black Entrepreneurs
This last statement is AOC’s opinion and not that of the business media. To us, Bernard Arnault’s instinctual insights about the increasing dominance and overall influence of Black culture are obvious — and impressive.
Just last week Arnaud indirectly took a significant financial position in Savage X Fenty via L Catterton. This decision came as Rihanna and LVMH agreed to put the Fenty designer label on hold for the time-being.
Making it clear that Arnaud and LVMH were not abandoning Rihanna in any way, the L Catterton investment confirmed to business media that Rihanna will be positioned to take out Victoria’s Secret — well at least to dethrone VS as the world’s biggest lingerie brand.
Armand de Brignac's Brut Gold Champagne. Image courtesy of LVMH.
Today, LVMH becomes partners with Jay-Z. a business deal consumated following an introduction from Arnault’s son Alexandre, who has joined recently-acquired Tiffany & Co. as head of product and communications in New York.
Bernard Arnaud Flew to LA to Meet Jay-Z
Philippe Schaus, chief executive officer of Moët Hennessy, the wines and spirits division of LVMH, and Bernard Arnault met with Shawn Carter at his mansion in Los Angeles.
“We tasted the Champagne and we said, yes, there is something to be done together, because obviously he doesn’t have the same distribution network as Moët Hennessy,” Schaus recalled.
“We are already global leaders with our prestige Champagne brands — Dom Pérignon, Krug and the prestige cuvées of Veuve Clicquot and Ruinart — but Armand de Brignac has created another niche and in some respects revolutionized the prestige category, so we wanted to be part of that,” he added. “They opened Champagne to a new clientele, so in that sense, it’s a great complement to our portfolio.”
Bottom line, Jay-Z has challenged the rules of the Champagne category and won.
In an internal video aimed at Moët Hennessy’s teams, Jay Z said the partnership felt like a natural next step in the evolution of Armand, writes WWD. .
“I couldn’t think of anyone else or a better partner for this brand, Armand, that we built from scratch,” he said. “When we started this, the only goal was to build something that would last longer than us, stand the test of time, build something of the utmost class and taste, so you guys are perfect partners.”
