// BBC UK NEWS — CRONACA
Viral vodka brand set to sell for £500m to BuzzBallz owner
Co-founders Charlie Morgan and Jackson Quinn will reportedly make over £100m each from the sale of the business
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 BuzzBallz owner 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.
Morgan earned infamy as the Swansea City ball boy who was kicked by Eden Hazard during a game with Chelsea in 2013