Now 50, he has been chairman of the board of Bermuda-based Bacardi Limited since and a director since He spoke with Reuters to share some of the life lessons he has learned from his family - and the family business - over the years. Q: What did growing up watching the family business teach you about finances? A: In , the entire family left Cuba because all of their assets were appropriated by the Cuban government. The family had to come together and rebuild the company. The lessons I learned were of being very frugal and careful with your finances - that you could lose everything you had at any time, that anything you have could be taken away.
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This cookie is set by Youtube and registers a unique ID for tracking users based on their geographical location. Used by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. When Prohibition was repealed in December Bacardi was ready to fill the gap.
Back in Cuba the political climate was once again boiling as Fulgencio Batista y Zaldivar, the country's army chief of staff, became Cuba's de facto ruler after a military coup. Unfettered by its tropical roots, Bacardi entered the U. Under the name Bacardi Corporation, the new company soon moved to larger accommodations across the bay in Catano.
The s brought several milestones for Bacardi, both in expansion and brand recognition. Much of the company's U. By the end of the decade, dark clouds loomed on the horizon for Bacardi. In , with the reintroduction of whiskey in the United States, rum sales plummeted 47 percent in a one-year period.
In when drinkers had become concerned over the caloric content of liquor, Bosch introduced a new advertising tact comparing the calories of a Daiquiri with those in a glass of milk. This successful spin was soon followed by ad campaigns directed to blacks and Hispanics, and in the company broke barriers by using a woman in its ads, who advised homemakers to serve a Daiquiri with the evening meal.
It was around this time there were two dissenting versions that the first Pina Colada was mixed in Puerto Rico, using Bacardi rum, varied fruit juices, and coconut milk.
As the s came to an end, Cuba was once again seized by revolution--this time to unseat Batista, who had returned to power in Regarded by many as a puppet of the United States, whose continued interference in Cuban affairs spawned guerrilla uprisings, Batista ruled until when rebels led by Fidel Castro and his brother Che Guevara overthrew his dictatorship. Luckily for Bacardi, it not only had its Mexican, Puerto Rican, New York, and recently established Brazilian operations to fall back on, but its registered trademark which Castro tried to seize, to no avail.
Another company, Bacardi International Limited, was also formed and headquartered in Bermuda. In the company sold 10 percent of its shares in an IPO initial public offering.
Trying to stave off competitors with Bacardi's reputation as a mixer, the company launched a new advertising campaign once again expounding its rum's versatility. The formula worked and Bacardi's sales grew by 10 percent annually throughout the s, when the company finally broke into the top ten of distilled spirits brands. In Bacardi sold over one million cases of rum; this figure doubled by By the end of , 2.
Aiming to further dominate the U. Pepper, 7Up, Pepsi, Perrier, and Schweppes' tonic water. In a well-played game of one-upmanship, Bacardi won the battle against Smirnoff vodka as the nation's biggest-selling distilled spirit. In after a dispute with the Bacardi family, Jose Bosch resigned as president of the company. The following year Bosch and a group of his supporters sold their company stock amounting to 12 percent or so to an outsider, Hiram Walker.
Unfortunately, this break with family tradition was the first in a series of squabbles that rocked the Bacardi empire over the next decade-and-a-half. Bacardi's rums sold just shy of 8 million cases in and by reigned as the number-one liquor brand in the United States. During this period, consumers were once again weight-conscious and accordingly, Bacardi relaunched its status as a low calorie diet drink mixer. By Bacardi was selling over 18 million cases a year, with old rival Smirnoff selling less than 14 million.
Regrouping, Bacardi chairman Alfred O'Hara and president Manuel Luis Del Valle nonfamily members brought in to run the company in the s commenced a controversial stock buyback, which divided the company and inspired a storm of controversy. Many of the family shareholders cried foul, several Bacardi family members were ousted, and O'Hara and Del Valle--despite the ruckus--succeeded. When the s began Bacardi was once again a private company.
Having weathered the Bacardi Capital scandal and increasing family discord, the company was faced by falling market share and sales.
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