Jay-Z finally speaks out about his deal with Moët Hennessy.
As reported by AllHipHop earlier this week, the Pride of Marcy Projects, sold a 50% stake of his Ace of Spades luxury champagne company (aka Armand de Brignac) to the most recognizable liquor brand in the world.
The RocNation head honcho and CEO of LVMH’s wines and spirits arm Moët Hennessy, Philippe Schaus, hopped on CNBC’s Squawk Box to talk about the lucrative deal.
Jay-Z said that the deal happened relatively quickly because the company’s mission aligned with his and that he could see that “they care about products and creating products” as his company does.
The rapper-turned-businessman said, “We built Armand on from the ground up. We wanted to do things right [and maintain the] integrity of it.” He also noted that Alexandre and Bernard Arnault came to his Los Angeles home in 2019 and after lunch and a follow-up call they were basically in business.
“Those conversations you know escalated pretty quickly. Seeing these guys were men of their words,” he recalled. “It just started out in a place of respect and it built from there. It built pretty quickly.”
Schaus said that the Ace of Spades brand was attractive — not just because of the premier quality— but in the way that its Hip-Hop consumer base embraced it. The marketing had a cool factor that was in his words “disruptive.” The company had been watching what Jay and his people were doing with the champagne in only a few short years.
It is something to see …
In 2019, Ace of S#### sold more than half a million bottles.
We suspect that this is a segue to a larger deal. There will probably be a Beyoncé something with this iconic brand. Remember it is not just Moët Hennessy … the company is composed of that French designer label that even had Kanye losing his mind for a minute.
LVMH is the acronym for Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton SE and is a French multinational corporation and conglomerate that specializes in luxury goods. Less than a month ago, LVMH also acquired the US historic company Tiffany & Co.
The dude who used to run up and down i95 now is a partner with the following big-money names: Moët; Hennessy; Louis Vuitton; Tiffany & Co. We ask, “How did you do that Hov?”
And all we can hear in response, “I’m a Hustla, baby!”