Rapper turned mogul Sean \u201cDiddy\u201d Combs has been dumped by longtime business partner Diageo, with the drinks giant accusing him of using threats and acting in bad faith to get his own way.<\/p>\n
Diageo North America first said it was breaking off its business relationship with Combs on Tuesday, weeks after the musician filed a lawsuit alleging the firm had racially discriminated against and neglected his vodka and tequila brands.<\/p>\n
In 2014, Combs and Diageo entered a joint venture to buy high-end tequila brand DeLe\u00f3n, with each party owning 50% of the \u201cultra-premium\u201d drink. Some varieties of DeLe\u00f3n can cost in excess of $1,000 per bottle.<\/p>\n
Combs\u2019s working relationship with Diageo had begun seven years prior, when the rapper helped the company promote its C\u00eeroc vodka brand. By the time the two parties entered into their joint venture, Combs had reportedly helped lift C\u00eeroc sales 40-fold.<\/p>\n
In a statement emailed to Fortune <\/em>on Wednesday, a Diageo spokesperson said the company had chosen to part ways with Combs for several reasons, including that he had \u201crepeatedly undermined our partnerships\u201d and \u201cthreatened to publicly defame Diageo if we did not meet his unreasonable financial demands.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are saddened that Mr. Combs has chosen to recast a business dispute as anything other than that and chosen to damage a productive and valued partnership,\u201d the firm\u2019s representative said. \u201cMr. Combs\u2019s bad-faith actions have clearly breached his contracts and left us no choice but to move to dismiss his baseless complaint and end our business relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n They added that following Combs\u2019s lawsuit against Diageo, the company sees \u201cno other path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have exhausted every reasonable remedy,\u201d they said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company insisted that it \u201cbelieves strongly\u201d in the C\u00eeroc and DeLe\u00f3n\u202fbrands and added that it had \u201ctried for years to salvage the broken relationship with Mr. Combs.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe funded the purchase of DeLe\u00f3n for the joint venture and proceeded to invest more than $100 million to grow the brand,\u201d Diageo\u2019s spokesperson said. <\/p>\n The spokesperson also claimed that Combs has made \u201cnearly a billion dollars over the course of [the] 15-year relationship\u201d but has contributed just $1,000 to the venture, refusing to honor any further commitments. <\/p>\n