Last week, JAY-Z made headlines for his massive Ace of Spades sale to LVMH. The billionaire rapper sold a 50 percent stake in his champagne brand to LVMH’s spirit and wine division Moët Hennessy, making him the latest music mogul to partner with the luxury conglomerate.
At the time, details surrounding JAY’s sale to LVMH were undisclosed. Now, financial estimates have been reported to reveal how much money Hov made from the mega-sale.
According to Forbes, the deal valued JAY’s champagne brand, Armand de Brignac, at over $600 million. Forbes specifically valued the brand at roughly $630 million. This means that with the 50 percent stake sale, JAY raked in at least $315 million from the deal.
Speaking with Yahoo! Finance, JAY said the sale would take Armand de Brignac to “the next level of taste and distribution.”
“We want the brand to outlast all of us… We don’t cut corners or lean on fame to sell the product,” he continued. “We’ve built it through passion and integrity.”
On CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Hov added that he and LVMH began discussing the potential partnership back in 2019.
“It just started out in a place of respect and built from there pretty quickly,” he explained.
With LVMH taking over the distribution of the champagne, Moët Hennessy CEO Philippe Schaus said the partnership would take the brand “to new heights across the world.”
“What we could bring to the brand, which is already very successful, is the sheer power of our international distribution network,” he added on “Squawk Box.”
Forbes reports that the new valuation of Ace of Spades more than doubled before the sale.
“The multiples for Armand de Brignac — based on the category and volume size of the brand — far outreach brands that don’t have that celebrity ownership,” beverage market analyst Eric Schmidt told the outlet.
“With celebrity association, particularly in the earlier years, the valuation of a company could be higher by three to seven times,” food and beverage marketing consultant Arthur Gallego added. “But I don’t think it works for every celebrity. There’s got to be something authentic about it.”
Forbes also compared JAY’s LVMH deal to sales made by Dr. Dre and Rihanna. In 2014, Dre sold his audio product company Beats to Apple for $3 billion and walked away with $585 million before taxes. In 2017, Rihanna also struck a deal with LVMH to launch Fenty Beauty and later Savage X Fenty, both of which she owns a $530 million stake in.