The important part:
None of them would let me quote them by name for fear of damaging business relation*ships, and when I related everything Id learned, all of them confirmed that Jay-Z receives millions of dollars per year for his association with Armand de Brignac. The connection wasnt through the Cattier family, but through Sovereign Brands.
Jay-Z publicly denies any connection to Armand de Brignac because he wants to be seen as a connoisseur, a trendsetter with the sophistication to anoint a successor to Cristal. Or, as Bienvenu off*handedly explained to me: He doesnt want to be considered a brand ambassador or something like this. More importantly, Jay-Z realizes that the revelation of a financial connection could endanger the authenticity of his endorsementand jeopardize a lucrative arrangement.
The math looks extremely favorable for Jay-Z. The production cost per bottle of Armand de Brignac is about $13; the wholesale price is $225. The maximum output is 60,000 bottles per year. If Jay-Z splits the $212-per-bottle profit evenly with Cattier and Sovereign, a back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests his annual take would be a little over $4 million. One of my sources confirmed that number, and added that Jay-Z may have received equity in Sov*ereign Brands worth about $50 million. All for dropping a few lyrical references and featuring Armand de Brignac in a couple of videos.
For now, it looks like Jay-Z gets to have his champagneand drink it, too.
Thats a helluva FLIP
