Au Vodka founders in line for £100m each as £500m sale to Sazerac reportedly nears

In a deal that would represent one of the most remarkable transformations from teenage notoriety to commercial triumph, the Welsh drinks company Au Vodka is reportedly nearing a £500m sale to Sazerac, the American spirits giant that owns Southern Comfort and the ready-to-drink brand BuzzBallz. The prospective transaction, first reported by Sky News, is understood to be structured in a manner that would yield windfalls in excess of £100m each for the Swansea-based founders, Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn, who established the company in 2015. Mr Morgan, who first captured the public imagination in 2013 when, as a 17-year-old ball boy for Swansea City, he was infamously kicked by Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard during a League Cup semi-final at the Liberty Stadium, has since parlayed that fleeting moment of notoriety into a highly lucrative business empire, alongside his childhood friend.

The company, which has become synonymous with its distinctive gold-coloured bottles and a celebrity-infused marketing strategy, initially gained significant traction two years after its launch when it accepted investment from the DJ Charlie Sloth, whose extensive network of celebrity contacts brought invaluable endorsements. This strategy was exemplified by a publicity stunt in which the YouTube star Jake Paul had a tattoo of an Au Vodka bottle inked on his person, while the gleaming gold bottles themselves became a ubiquitous fixture at poolside parties in Ibiza and Dubai. Having successfully diversified into the burgeoning ready-to-drink market with cans that retained the brand’s signature gold aesthetic, Au Vodka quickly ascended to become the second most popular product in its category in the United Kingdom, trailing only the very firm that is now reportedly poised to acquire it, BuzzBallz.

The founders’ ambitions have been matched by a flamboyant corporate style that belies a serious commercial intent. In 2025, they inaugurated a new headquarters on an industrial estate in their home city of Swansea, transforming an office block into a car park filled with gold-wrapped vehicles, while visitors were invited to enjoy a nine-hole mini golf course featuring golden obstacles and balls. This conspicuous display of wealth is a far cry from the incident that first brought Mr Morgan to prominence, when Mr Hazard, in an attempt to retrieve the ball, appeared to make contact with the teenager as he lay on the turf, an action that resulted in the midfielder’s dismissal and provoked widespread debate among fans, players and pundits about culpability. A decade later, as the business flourished, Mr Morgan and Mr Hazard were reunited for a YouTube video in which they were able to laugh about the incident, a testament to the passage of time and the founder’s subsequent success.

Despite the conspicuous bling and celebrity bluster that has surrounded the brand, Mr Morgan and Mr Quinn have taken a serious and strategic approach to their enterprise, moving swiftly to capitalise on the ready-to-drink boom that followed the pandemic. In a 2025 interview with BBC Wales News, Mr Morgan articulated his global aspirations, revealing that he was expanding aggressively into the United States market. “If you asked a 25-year-old target market consumer in America, would they know Au? Probably not yet,” he conceded at the time, adding: “So there's still so many more people who don't know about us. And I think we're still driven to try and take over the world a little bit more.” The founders have declined to comment on the reported sale, and Sazerac has been approached for a response, but should the deal be finalised, it will mark a spectacular climax to a decade of extraordinary entrepreneurial ambition.