Viral vodka brand Au set to sell for £500m to BuzzBallz owner

The viral Welsh vodka firm Au Vodka is nearing a £500m sale to Southern Comfort and BuzzBallz owner Sazerac.

Sazerac told BBC Wales in a statement it had agreed to buy the vodka start-up, with the deal, first reported by Sky News, expected to earn Swansea-based founders Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn over £100m each.

Former Swansea City ball boy Charlie Morgan, who hit the headlines in 2013 after he was kicked by Chelsea's Eden Hazard during a cup semi-final, and his childhood friend Jackson Quinn founded the company in 2015.

The founders declined to discuss the deal, while the owner of the canned cocktail BuzzBallz, Sazerac, said it would allow it "to deepen its presence in the UK".

Two years after launching the vodka firm, Morgan and Quinn accepted investment from DJ Charlie Sloth whose celebrity contacts brought valuable endorsements to the gold-coloured vodka bottles.

YouTube star Jake Paul had a tattoo of an Au Vodka bottle as part of a publicity stunt, while the gold bottles became a staple of poolside parties in Ibiza and Dubai.

The company developed ready-to-drink cans that kept the distinctive gold branding and became one of the most popular products on the market.

In 2025 they opened a new headquarters on an industrial estate in their home city of Swansea, turning an office block into a car park full of gold-wrapped cars, while visitors enjoyed a nine-hole mini golf course with golden obstacles and balls.

It is quite a journey for co-founder Morgan, whose early fame came aged 17 when he was kicked by Chelsea's Hazard during the side's game against Swansea City in 2013.

The teenager fell to the ground as Hazard attempted to get the ball from him, with the Blues midfielder then trying to kick it from under him, but instead he appeared to make contact with the youngster.

Hazard was sent off for the kick at the Liberty Stadium, and later apologised, but the incident prompted widespread debate among football fans, players and pundits about who was at fault.

Ten years later, as Morgan's business boomed, he reunited with Hazard for a YouTube video where they laughed about the incident.

Morgan and Quinn took a serious approach to their business, despite the bling and celebrity bluster.

Having moved quickly into the ready-to-drink market as it boomed following the pandemic, Au Vodka became second only to BuzzBallz in the UK.

Morgan told BBC Wales News in 2025 that he had his eyes set further afield, and was expanding aggressively into the US market.

Speaking last year, Morgan said: "If you asked a 25-year-old target market consumer in America, would they know Au? Probably not yet," he said.

"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."

In 2025 the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found Au Vodka broke rules by inappropriately aiming the alcohol at people under 18 in a social media promotion, and banned the advert featuring a Love Island contestant from TikTok.