Best-selling rapper, Jay-Z, has announced that he has sold 50 percent of his high-end champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, also known as Ace of Spades,
Best-selling rapper, Jay-Z, has announced that he has sold 50 percent of his high-end champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, also known as Ace of Spades, to Moët Hennessy.
Though the financial terms of the new partnership haven’t been released to the public, the Times reported that in 2018, half of Armand de Brignac was valued at a cool $250 million, per Jay-Z’s verse in his track with Meek Mill, “What’s Free.”
The wine and spirits division of French luxury giant LVMH announced the partnership with the music mogul’s champagne line.
According to a release, Jay-Z’s bubbly has been a hit in North America, Asia and Europe, with over 500,000 bottles sold in 2019.
He first bought a 50 per cent stake in the brand back in 2006, and promoted it in a video before it launched. He then bought the rest of Armand de Brignac in 2014.
Chief Executive Officer, Moët Hennessy, Philippe Schaus, said, “We had been following its success over the last few years and we thought, this is crazy. Most Champagne brands see very modest growth, and he was just shooting up through the ranks. We tasted the Champagne and we said, yes, there is something to be done together.
“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 revolutionised the prestige category, so we wanted to be part of that. They opened Champagne to a new clientele, so in that sense, it’s a great complement to our portfolio.”
Jay-Z added that the partnership was sparked when he welcomed Alexandre Arnault, and subsequently his father, LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, to his Los Angeles home, along with Schaus.
Last year, he and Beyoncé brought their own champagne to the Golden Globes, which is heavily sponsored by Moët.
