Music mogul and entrepreneur Jay-Z (Sean Carter) has purchased the Armand de Brignac champagne company, which sells its champagne in shiny gold bottles.
New York wine and spirits company Sovereign Brands, the former owner of the brand, said it had sold the luxury brand to the rapper for an undisclosed amount. Industry experts indicate the brand in its entirety is worth between $25 million and $30 million.
The Armand de Brignac champagne company, which sells its gold champagne bottles for about $300 each, has long been favored by the rap artist and was featured prominently in one of his music videos back in 2006.
He’s often seen in pictures sipping the drink with his wife Beyonce Knowles, and the couple famously hosted a fundraiser for President Obama that featured a wall lined with hundreds of Armand de Brignac bottles.
The champagne, also called “Ace of Spades”, is crafted and marketed by a family-run vineyard in France that traces its roots back to 1763. The company employs fewer than 20 people.
Jay-Z used to be a fan of the Cristal champagne brand, but that changed in 2006 when The Economist published disparaging comments from the head of the company that makes the champagne, Frederic Rouzaud. “What can we do? We can’t forbid people from buying it,” Rouzaud told The Economist, when asked if hip-hop artists were tarnishing the high-end brand. When Jay-Z heard of the comments, he immediately stopped sipping Cristal and quickly switched to Armand de Brignac. Fans of Jay-Z will remember how he then brushed off a bottle of Cristal in favor of some “gold bottles of that ace of spade” in the music video for his 2006 single, “Show Me What You Got.”
The 44-year-old New Yorker, born Shawn Carter, rose to fame through his music and now has business interests in fashion, entertainment and sports.
Shawn Carter, best known by his stage name Jay-Z is an American rapper, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is one of the most financially successful hip-hop artists and entrepreneurs in America. In 2014, Forbes estimated Carter’s net worth at nearly $520 million. He is one of the world’s best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 75 million records, while receiving 19 Grammy Awards for his musical work, and numerous additional nominations.
As an entrepreneur and investor, Jay-Z co-owns the 40/40 Club, and is the co-creator of the clothing line Rocawear. He is the former president of Def Jam Recordings, co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records, and the founder of Roc Nation. Jay-Z is married to American R&B singer Beyoncé in 2008, who tops the Forbes ranking and was recently named the top-earning woman in the music industry after making $115 million in 2014.