Diageo Severs Ties with Sean 'Diddy' Combs

Diageo funded the purchase of DeLeon for its joint venture with Sean "Diddy" Combs "and proceeded to invest more than $100 million to grow the brand over the course of our 15-year relationship, Mr. Combs contributed a total of $1,000 and refused to honor his commitments."

And with that statement in a court filing Diageo ended its business relationship with Combs, and issued a statement accusing Combs of  "bad faith action: that breached the terms of his contract with Diageo. The spirits maker said it had paid Combs nearly $1 billion over the last 15 years.

Combs had sued Diageo, alleging the spirits maker neglected DeLeon, which they jointly own.  He also accused Diageo of racial discrimination.  Diageo has denied the claims and Tuesday asked the court to dismiss Combs lawsuit. “Diageo partnered with him to use his widely-known name and likeness to promote DeLeón,” Combs attorney said said. “Its new, apparent focus on monetary funding belies the immense value Mr. Combs brought to establishing and growing the DeLeón brand.”

In addition to DeLeon, Diageo and Combs have worked together on Ciroc.

Combs attorney denied Diageo's claims.  Diddy claims his brands have been starved of resources and neglected by Diageo.