Who Really Owns Fiji Water? Inside the Billionaire Power Couple's Empire
By Alexander Ross
Operating a private extractive business in an island nation marked by political upheaval brings friction. In November 2010, simmering tensions between the company and the Fijian military government boiled over. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama announced a staggering increase in the water extraction tax: surging from one-third of a Fijian cent per liter to 15 Fijian cents per liter for any entity pulling more than 3.5 million liters per month.
Fiji Water was the only commercial bottler operating anywhere near that volume. The policy targeted them directly. Furious over what they viewed as punitive confiscation, the Resnicks pushed back hard. They suspended bottling operations, sent hundreds of local factory workers home, and canceled community development contracts. Company executives signaled they would walk away from their investments entirely rather than submit to the tax hike.
Bainimarama did not blink. He publicly stated that if Fiji Water abandoned the Yaquara plant, the government would immediately cancel their water extraction leases and award the concession to another foreign multinational waiting in the wings. Realizing the brand identity depended entirely on the word "Fiji" in its name, making relocation impossible, the Resnicks yielded within days. They reopened the factory, accepted the tax rate, and have paid tens of millions of dollars into state coffers ever since.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
