There’s reportedly a significant amount of money at stake in Jay-Z’s lawsuit against Bacardi — specifically $1.5 billion, one outlet claims. The 24-time Grammy Award-winning emcee, born Shawn Corey Carter, is currently at odds due to a lack of financial transparency with the spirit giant regarding their 50/50 partnership over the famed D’Ussé cognac brand.
According to TMZ, which broke the story, the Brooklyn native was reportedly prepared to dish out $1.5 billion in order to gain complete ownership of D’Ussé but was rejected. However, it wasn’t the first time the embattled business partners negotiated numbers.
The outlet reported that several months before Jay-Z made his billion-dollar offer, the “Reasonable Doubt” musician and Bacardi exchanged valuations of the company and ultimately realized they were not on the same page. While the emcee felt his half of D’Ussé was worth $2.5 billion, Bacardi thought it was only worth $460 million.
In legal documents obtained by the outlet, the hip-hop mogul subsequently offered to buy out the privately owned company for three times Bacardi’s valuation but to no avail, triggering the emcee to suspect Baccardi was not playing it straight in its valuations.
In October, TMZ reported that in late 2021 the rapper began to exercise his right to to be bought out of their partnership, with an agreement that Bacardi would “negotiate in good faith” to come up with a fair price for the billionaire’s stake in the aged liquor beverage referenced in a number of his projects.
According to documents obtained by the gossip outlet, SC Liquor claimed Bacardi’s subsidiary, Empire Investments Inc., was trying to “stall and stonewall” them from getting the actual value of D’Ussé. The 52-year-old also accused Bacardi of sabotaging the brand to lower profits.
The “Empire State of Mind” rapper wants a judge to make Bacardi give him full transparency to financial records, “location of all warehouses storing D’Ussé barrels, bottles and accessories,” and all other documents related to D’Ussé to “protect SC’s rights.”
Recently, Jay-Z’s SC Liquor LLC has been granted an emergency hearing against Bacardi subsidiary Empire Investments Inc. The media outlet reported that according to other legal documents, hearings are slated to begin next month.
The Roc Nation boss’s legal issues came just months after he settled his 2021 NFT dispute with former Roc-A-Fella Records business partner Dame Dash for allegedly attempting to sell the copyright to his debut album “Reasonable Doubt” as a non-fungible token.
Last June, a judge declared that Dame was prohibited from following through with the alleged NFT sale. Furthermore, all parties agree that Roc is the owner of “Reasonable Doubt” and that neither Jay nor Kareem “Biggs” Burke, who all have a 1/3 stake, could attempt to sell their portion of ownership as an NFT.
