Jay-Z’s Bacardi battle continues, this time with a new report stating his $1.5 billion D’Ussé offer was declined last year.
Per a report from TMZ on Thursday, citing court documents, Jay-Z made the offer in question in December 2021. The offer is said to have been preceded by differing valuations from Jay and Bacardi, with whom he shares D’Ussé duties.
In short, Jay is reported to have estimated that his half of the partnership was worth $2.5 billion, while Bacardi went much lower at $460 million. Jay then made the aforementioned offer, which was ultimately turned down, spurring the battle in question that’s been the subject of numerous headlines in recent months.
As reported in November, more than $2 billion was revealed to have possibly been in dispute in Jay’z Bacardi lawsuit over D’Ussé. A publicly available experience profile of Daniel Schimmel, who heads the International Litigation and Arbitration practice of Foley Hoag’s New York offices (and is also an arbitrator in the case in question), mentioned an “amount in dispute” exceeding $2 billion as part of “an arbitration between members of a Delaware limited liability company.” At the time, a source close to Foley Hoag had indicated to Complex that this figure was in reference to Jay and Bacardi’s legal dispute.
The suit itself was first revealed in October, with TMZ noting that Jay (through his SCLiquor company) was seeking financial information regarding the partnership, which extends back over a decade.
As for where things go from here, that remains unclear. An emergency hearing, however, had previously been set for last week, meaning additional information could be revealed in the coming days.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg Lawrecently reported that SCLiquor has made a number of allegations regarding arbitrators in the case, including accusing an arbitrator’s wife of having made what they described as a “blatantly racist remark” in response to a messenger who was dropping off documents.
According to the report, which cited a sworn affidavit, the wife of independent arbitrator George Gluck is alleged by the messenger to have said, “We don’t accept packages from people like you.” Gluck, specifically, is alleged to have “looked on” while this transpired.
