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.
Armand de Brignac's Brut Gold Champagne. Image courtesy of LVMH.
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 Jay-Z, aka 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.
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.
The 50-50 partnership between Jay-Z and Moët Hennessy is designed to ensure that each partner is represented equally. “We are going into this partnership on equal terms together with Jay-Z and his family and with the same conviction that we are only at the beginning of a wonderful story,” adds Schaus.
