Exclusive: Moët Hennessy North America President & CEO Seth Kaufman Departing To Become CEO Of Publicly Traded U.S. Company
July 12, 2023Moët Hennessy North America president and CEO Seth Kaufman is set to step down to accept a new role outside the company, Shanken News Daily has learned.
According to an internal memo obtained by SND, Kaufman has accepted a role as CEO of an unnamed publicly traded company in the U.S. He will remain with Moët Hennessy through a notice period as the luxury wine and spirits group transitions and names his successor.
Our sources tell us that one strong possibility is that Kaufman will be named chief executive of California winemaker Vintage Wine Estates, which has been searching for a new permanent CEO after announcing a business realignment earlier this year. SND has not been able to independently confirm that. Vintage Wine Estates went public in June 2021 in a $600 million IPO with shares priced at $10.22. The stock climbed as high as $12.63 a share, but fell from there and closed on Monday at $0.85.
Contacted by SND, Vintage Wine Estates interim CEO Jon Moramarco said, “We’ve made clear we’re searching for a new CEO. As a public company we don’t comment on rumors.” Kaufman didn’t respond to calls seeking comment.
Kaufman began his tenure as Moët Hennessy’s North American leader in January, 2020, joining the company from PepsiCo, where he held a series of marketing, sales, and management roles across a 19-year career. He was charged with extending U.S. growth for Moët Hennessy’s formidable luxury stable of wine and spirits brands, including labels like Hennessy Cognac, Moët & Chandon, Veuve Clicquot, Dom Pérignon, Krug, Chandon, Glenmorangie, Ardbeg, Belvedere, Volcan de mi Tierra, Woodinville, Cloudy Bay, and Newton, among others.
While Moët Hennessy’s U.S. Champagne portfolio has continued to expand in volume over the past few years, according to Impact Databank, a slowdown in the Cognac category has impacted market leader Hennessy, which slipped below 4 million cases in 2022 on a double-digit decline. The brand continues to command a dominant market share in the category, however, and has recently doubled down on its higher-end marques to boost the value side.
In Moët Hennessy’s fiscal first quarter through March, the company posted global sales up 3% to €1.7 billion ($1.9b). Still, the Cognac & Spirits unit slipped 5%, as Hennessy continued to come up against high distributor stock levels in the U.S., where the group noted softer economic conditions.—Daniel Marsteller
| Moët Hennessy – Leading Brands in the U.S. (thousands of 9-liter case depletions) |
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| Brand | Origin/Type | 2021 | 2022 | Percent Change1 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hennessy | Cognac | 4,773 | 3,728 | -21.9% | |
| Veuve Clicquot | Champagne | 647 | 663 | 2.4% | |
| Chateau d’Esclans | French Table Wine | 651 | 650 | * | |
| Chandon | California Sparkling | 520 | 537 | 3.2% | |
| Moët & Chandon | Champagne | 594 | 486 | -18.2% | |
| The Beach by Whispering Angel |
French Table Wine | 150 | 162 | 8.0% | |
| Glenmorangie | Single Malt Scotch | 150 | 128 | -14.4% | |
| Terrazas de los Andes | Argentine Table Wine | 102 | 103 | 1.6% | |
| Ardbeg | Single Malt Scotch | 49 | 41 | -16.3% | |
| Total Key Brands2 | 7,634 | 6,498 | -14.9% | ||
| * less than 0.05%. 1 Based on unrounded data. 2 Addition of columns may not agree due to rounding. Source: IMPACT DATABANK © 2023 |
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