Jess Jackson's legacy(3)
In recent years, Jackson Family Wines has been forced to consolidate its operations as consumer demand for luxury wines dropped following the collapse of Wall Street and the onset of a severe recession. The company moved aggressively to cut costs, laying off about 170 people in early 2009 and closing or ceasing production at several wineries around the state.
But demand for luxury wine is expected to recover as the economy rebounds, and the company is set to expand in response, Tigner and Hartford said in an interview at the company's headquarters near the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.
“We look to go forward and become even stronger,” Hartford said. “And that is a tribute to Jess.
The company is not thinking about what it might sell, but what it might buy, said Tigner, who reports to Hartford and Banke, who is chairwoman of Jackson Family Wines.
Industry analysts agreed that the company is in a strong position.
“Kendall-Jackson is a unique force in our business,” said Robert Nicholson, a winery broker in Healdsburg who specializes in selling and determining the value of wine brands. “Jess and Barbara built a business that stands on its own two feet.”
Analysts estimate the company, which reported selling 5 million cases of wine last year, generated more than $500 million in annual revenue and continued to return strong earnings of nearly $100 million for the Jackson family.
“It's got to be among the more profitable wineries in Sonoma County,” Freed said.
Stables will continue
The company also will continue to operate the prized stables in Kentucky, which are just beginning to produce foals from the award-winning thoroughbreds that Jackson acquired in the last decade of his life.
“That will continue as it has,” Hartford said. “Barbara has become as involved and is as passionate about the business as Jess was.”
Jackson demanded excellence from his executives and had little use for those who didn't meet his expectations.
“People think of him as a tremendously hard-nosed businessman, and he was, sometimes even too tough,” said Pete Scott, the company's chief financial officer from 1990 to 1997. “But he had a golden touch.”
