Jay-Z famously sips on D'Ussé, but he no longer wants to own the liquor brand -- TMZ Hip Hop's learned he's selling it to his partners at Bacardi, but he suspects the company's playing a high stakes "shell game."
As we first reported ... Jay's filed docs demanding Bacardi open up the books on its 50/50 partnership with him on D'Ussé -- the top-shelf cognac they've co-owned since 2012 -- and now we know why.
According to docs, Jay's company, SC Liquor, exercised its right to a buyout about a year ago. Under their agreement, Bacardi now has to "negotiate in good faith" to come up with a fair price for Jay's stake in D'Ussé. Therein lies the problem ... Jay thinks they're not playing fair.
Jay-Z Sues Bacardi to Open Up the Books on D'Usse Partnership
In the docs, SC Liquor says Bacardi's subsidiary, Empire Investments Inc., is trying to "stall and stonewall" all efforts to get financial info on the valuation of D'Ussé.
Keep in mind, no one's done more than Jay to hype the brand, shouting it out in countless verses -- and after a year of Bacardi dragging its feet, Jay thinks their endgame is lowballing him on the price.
Even further, Jay accuses Bacardi of mismanaging in all sorts of ways with the intent of lowering profits.
As for how much it might be worth -- the documents reference a potential value, but Jay's lawyers redacted those numbers. We do know both sides are not seeing eye-to-eye on the value, because they've each thrown out a potential value -- again, it's redacted -- but Jay described their number as "well below" fair value.
If you're wondering why Jay-Z -- who's already a billionaire many times over -- might be haggling over the price, there's BIG liquor money at stake here. Remember, George Clooney and Rande Gerber sold their stake in Casamigos tequila back in 2017 ... for nearly $1 billion!!!
Jay wants a judge to force Bacardi to open the books and all other records related to D'Ussé.