NOT WORTH THE PAPER ITS WRITTEN ON
Bacardi Claims Jay-Z Backed Out on ‘Handshake Deal'Noah A. McGee
Thu, November 3, 2022
Photo: John Phillips (Getty Images)
The relationship between Hov and Bacardi continues to get messier and messier. Weeks ago, court documents showed that the Brooklyn rap mogul was looking to sell his stake in D’Ussé to Bacardi, which are both currently 50-50 co-owners of the cognac brand, according to TMZ.
Previously, Jay-Z filed a lawsuit to demand financial clarity from Bacardi when it came to the D’Ussé brand, including all of the records, books and the location of the warehouses where D’Usse barrels, bottles and accessories were being stored. The lawsuit also said he needs all of the information regarding Bacardi’s inventory and their inventory process. He wanted it all.
We now know he was trying to discover how much the brand is worth so he can get top dollar when he eventually sells his stake in the company.
But Bacardi said not so fast.
In response to Jay-Z’s lawsuit, Bacardi’s subsidiary, Empire Investments, says that both sides had a “handshake deal” last December that would allow Empire to buy Hov’s 50 percent stake in D’Ussé. But, according to TMZ, Empire claims that the “Holy Grail” rapper backed out of the deal and wanted double the valuation.
Jay’s company, SC Liquor, exercised an option last year for Bacardi to buy him out. They had been 50/50 partners in D’Ussé since its inception in 2012. Bacardi doesn’t disagree with that, but takes issue with Mr. Carter’s attempt to “outrageously inflate” the price ... in their words.
In the new docs, Empire/Bacardi doesn’t say what, if any, price they’d agreed upon when they made the handshake deal — much of the document is redacted as we’re guessing neither side wants any valuation of D’Ussé to be made public at this point.
Clearly, Jay-Z and his team think they are being lowballed on the price and Bacardi claims they have already agreed on a price and that Jay has to accept. Whether he eventually will or not is the big question.
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