00:00Today on Forbes, meet the mastermind behind the $1.9 billion poppy deal.
00:08Sitting in his Manhattan office, where hot pink, purple, and orange cans of his soda brand poppy are tacked to the wall like artwork,
00:16Rohan Oza explains how, for the past 20 years, he's been searching for the perfect soft drink.
00:22He says, quote,
00:23The 53-year-old Oza is co-founder of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Cavu Consumer Partners
00:37and was the chairman of prebiotic soda poppy and its single largest individual shareholder
00:43when Pepsi acquired it in May for $1.9 billion.
00:48The poppy deal is Oza's biggest exit yet, but it's far from his first.
00:53He played a key role in some of the largest beverage acquisitions of the past two decades,
00:58including Vitamin Water and Smart Water, $4.1 billion in 2007,
01:03as well as Buy, an antioxidant-infused water that sold for $1.7 billion in 2016.
01:11Oza's role in those deals was a cross between Hitmaker and Matchmaker,
01:15having brought in 50 Cent to Vitamin Water, Jennifer Aniston to Smart Water,
01:20and Justin Timberlake to buy, through equity deals that saw the celebrities driving sales.
01:27Curtis Jackson, better known as 50 Cent, says, quote,
01:31When Rohan and I did the Vitamin Water deal,
01:33it became the blueprint that set the tone for future equity ownership partnerships.
01:37We proved that celebrities could bet on themselves and win big,
01:41and that's exactly what he continues to do.
01:43For Oza, the path to poppy came through one of his frequent appearances on ABC's Shark Tank.
01:50On a 2018 episode, Oza took a 25% stake in the Austin, Texas-based beverage brand,
01:56founded by husband and wife entrepreneurs Stephen and Allison Ellsworth, for $400,000.
02:02The Ellsworths owned an estimated 12% of poppy at the time of the Pepsi sale,
02:07worth about $150 million post-tax.
02:09After he took the 25% stake, Oza changed everything.
02:14He rebranded Mother Beverage, as the Ellsworths had named it, as poppy.
02:19The liquid went from an apple cider vinegar drink to a prebiotic soda,
02:23and the packaging changed from glass to cans.
02:26The branding morphed from farmer's market artisanal to bright millennial-friendly colors.
02:33Leading up to Pepsi's acquisition at a 3.3 times revenue multiple,
02:37Forbes estimates that Oza owned about 21% of poppy, and Kavu owned another 37%.
02:43That netted him some $250 million post-tax directly from the sale,
02:49and another roughly $50 million through Kavu.
02:52Those proceeds, in addition to exits reinvested and his 50% stake in Kavu,
02:57add up to an estimated net worth of roughly $500 million.
03:01Such success, Oza says, represents his own American dream.
03:07An immigrant from Zambia who came to the U.S. in 1995,
03:11and then got an MBA at the University of Michigan,
03:13he now lives in Miami and shuttles between there,
03:16the main Kavu office in Los Angeles, and its other space in New York,
03:20as well as his homes at the Yellowstone Club in Montana,
03:23and on the Caribbean island of Barbuda.
03:25Oza says, quote,
03:28There's no consumer audience in the world that is willing to embrace new brands as rapidly as Americans are.
03:34I came here with a dream.
03:36It's full circle.
03:38Growing up in Livingstone, Zambia, Oza was a devout soda drinker.
03:43After graduating from the United Kingdom's University of Nottingham,
03:46Oza started working for candy maker Mars on its Snickers brand in 1992.
03:51But his boss took him off the management track, telling the then-22-year-old he was, quote,
03:56Not sure that marketing is your thing.
04:00Oza returned to Zambia defeated before heading to Michigan.
04:03But he says, quote,
04:04If you truly believe, you've got to double down and power through it.
04:09His next chance came in Atlanta, where he worked at Coca-Cola,
04:13marketing Sprite and later Powerade, his first time leading a brand.
04:16The turnaround he engineered, from Powerade sales declining 15% the year before he took over in 2001,
04:24to growing 35% the next year,
04:26got him noticed by Vitamin Water, which had $35 million in revenue.
04:31As Vitamin Water's new CMO, he called 50 Cent to see if he might promote the beverage.
04:37The rap star wanted his own flavor.
04:38Formula 50's debut in 2004 doubled sales to $160 million within a year.
04:4650 Cent received an estimated 2% ownership stake.
04:51For full coverage, check out Chloe Sorvino's piece on Forbes.com.
04:57This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.
04:59Thanks for tuning in.
05:08Thanks for tuning in.
Comments