Hennessy, a publicly owned French producer of cognac headquartered in France, was founded in 1765 by Richard Hennessy and employs approximately 920 individuals. The brand is owned by Moët Hennessy, which formed from a champagne and cognac merger in the early seventies, and is in turn owned by LVMH (66%) and Diageo (34%), with Diageo acting as a controlling shareholder. Hennessy functions as a producer of cognac, recognized among major houses such as Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin. It is the world's largest cognac producer, selling approximately 102 million bottles of its cognacs per year, and in 2017 its sales represented around 60% of the US cognac market. The company engages in distilling cognac eaux-de-vie itself and also acts as a négociant.
