Charlie Morgan, Hazard's Ballboy, Sells Au Vodka to Sazerac

Charlie Morgan’s first headline came at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium in January 2013, at a League Cup semi-final against Chelsea. Morgan, a 17-year-old ballboy, held onto the ball, Eden Hazard tried to kick it free, caught him instead and was sent off. Two years later Morgan and his school friend Jackson Quinn started a vodka company. In August 2026 the family company behind Buffalo Trace and Fireball agreed to buy it.

At a glance

2,000 gold bottles

Au Vodka Ltd was registered at Companies House in March 2015 and started with a single run of 2,000 gold bottles sold to bars around Swansea, per Swansea Bay News. The gold bottle stuck. In 2017 the DJ and broadcaster Charlie Sloth bought a fifth of the company and pushed it to musicians and influencers. YouTuber Jake Paul got the brand tattooed on himself, Food Dive notes, and the Press Association lists Floyd Mayweather among its celebrity endorsements.

Then came cans. Au’s ready-to-drink cocktails in flavours such as red cherry, blue raspberry and peach took it from a bar-shelf vodka to a supermarket brand. Swansea Bay News reports that in the year to April 2025 its RTD volumes rose 65.8% to more than 1.1 million nine-litre cases, and that it overtook Gordon’s as the UK’s best-selling ready-to-drink product in shops that November. It launched in the US in August 2022 and sold 50,000 bottles in its first week, per Food Dive.

The company grew with it: an average of 34 staff in the year to April 2022, 50 the next year and 66 the year after, and a new £5 million, 30,000 sq ft head office in Swansea Vale in early 2025, with a nine-hole crazy golf course.

The sale

Sky News first reported the talks. On August 17 Sazerac said it had a “binding agreement” to buy the brand, the Press Association reported, putting the valuation at about £500 million and noting Sky’s report that each co-founder could net around £100 million. Swansea Bay News, also citing Sky, framed it as up to £500 million including future payments. PJT Partners ran the sale and PwC advised the founders personally. Neither company disclosed terms.

By September 14 the deal was done, per Food Manufacture. “Having Sazerac take the helm feels like the right and natural next step for us,” Morgan said. “They’re family-owned and they’ve shown that they know how to grow a brand without losing what makes it special.” Sazerac CEO Jake Wenz called Au “a brand we’ve long admired” with “a phenomenal growth trajectory since 2015.”

At the reported £500 million, Sazerac paid about six times Au’s £82.8 million of 2025 turnover. That is our arithmetic on a reported figure; the actual price may include deferred payments and has not been disclosed.

What founders can take from it

• Fifteen seconds of fame is not a business, but it can open doors. The Hazard story made Morgan recognisable. Eleven years of selling made the company valuable.
• Packaging can be the brand. A gold bottle sold to Swansea bars became the identity of a £80 million-a-year business.
• Format shifts change the ceiling. Au’s biggest growth came from cans, the category Sazerac has been buying into with BuzzBallz and other RTD deals.

Related founders

• Justin Gill Sold Bachan’s, His Grandma’s Sauce, for $400M: another 2026 sale of a fast-growing, founder-built food and drink brand.
• Elizabeth Stein Sells Purely Elizabeth to Ferrero, Stays CEO: a founder choosing a family-owned buyer.
• Ben Francis Sold 21% of Gymshark. Now He Wants It Back.: another young UK founder and a private equity stake.

Sourcing: the 2013 incident, the 2015 Companies House registration, the 2,000-bottle start, Charlie Sloth’s 2017 fifth, Metric Capital’s 2023 stake, RTD volumes, the Gordon’s milestone, staff numbers, the head office and the sale advisers are per Swansea Bay News (August 17, 2026), which cites Sky News and company accounts. The binding agreement, the £500 million valuation, the £100 million-each estimate, the £82.8 million turnover and the Floyd Mayweather endorsement are per the Press Association (Henry Saker-Clark, August 17, 2026), read on Echo Live. US launch figures, flavours and the Jake Paul tattoo are per Food Dive (Laurel Deppen, August 18, 2026). Completion and the Morgan and Wenz quotes are per Food Manufacture (Michelle Perrett, September 14, 2026). The implied 2024 turnover (£82.8m ÷ 1.273) and the turnover multiple are our arithmetic. Pre-tax profit is reported differently by two outlets (£5m and £6.7m), so we leave it out. No portrait is used.