Americans spent $34.6 billion on bottled water in 2019. Fiji Water claimed the top spot as the country’s #1 imported premium bottled water brand during that time. If you’ve ever wondered who owns this luxury water company, the answer might surprise you.
Stewart and Lynda Resnick own Fiji Water through their private holding company, The Wonderful Company. These billionaires acquired the brand in 2004 and turned it into part of their $6 billion agricultural empire that employs over 10,000 people worldwide.
The ownership story gets more interesting when you look closer. David Gilmour, a Canadian businessman who built a resort in Fiji, founded the water brand in 1996. He sold it to the Resnicks eight years later, and they’ve been running it ever since.
Fiji Water generates $43.01 million in annual revenue as of 2018. The company has invested over FJ$300 million in facility upgrades and recently launched a $140 million expansion at its Yaqara plant. But success comes with complications.
The environmental costs are significant. Producing, exporting, and distributing one bottle of Fiji Water requires approximately 6.74 kilograms of water and uses 2,000 times more energy than drinking tap water. Each bottle travels 5,558.9 miles from Fiji to California, creating a massive carbon footprint for what many consider a basic necessity. This tension between luxury branding and environmental impact shapes much of Fiji Water’s story today.
Who owns Fiji Water today?
The Wonderful Company owns Fiji Water. This Los Angeles-based private corporation acquired the luxury water brand in 2004 for approximately $50 million.
The Wonderful Company and the Resnicks
Stewart and Lynda Resnick co-founded The Wonderful Company in 1979. Stewart serves as Chairman while Lynda holds the Vice Chairman position. What started as their investment vehicle has grown into the $6 billion agricultural corporation mentioned earlier.
The couple’s wealth extends far beyond Fiji Water. Stewart Resnick’s personal fortune reached $5.6 billion as of May 2024, earning him #529 on Forbes’ Billionaires list and #192 on the Forbes 400. Combined with Lynda’s assets, their joint wealth totals approximately $10.6 billion, though some sources estimate it could reach $13 billion.
Fiji Water’s place in a billion-dollar portfolio
Fiji Water sits alongside several other premium brands in the Resnicks’ portfolio.
Nearly half of all Americans purchase products from The Wonderful Company, which includes:
- POM Wonderful
- Wonderful Pistachios and Almonds
- Wonderful Halos (mandarin oranges)
- JUSTIN, Landmark, and JNSQ Wines
- Teleflora floral wire service
- Suterra Pest Control
The company has invested more than $1.3 billion in environmental sustainability initiatives. Their most notable commitment was a $750 million gift to Caltech for environmental sustainability research.
Ownership structure and key stakeholders
The ownership structure is simple. Stewart and Lynda Resnick each hold a 50% stake in The Wonderful Company. This gives them complete control over Fiji Water’s operations and strategic direction.
Their water interests extend beyond Fiji Water. The Resnicks own a majority stake in the Kern Water Bank, one of California’s largest underground water storage facilities with a 500 billion gallon capacity. This investment aligns with their business strategy but has drawn criticism during California’s drought periods.
The origin story: Who founded Fiji Water?
David Gilmour had no plans to start a bottled water company when he bought a small Fijian island in 1973.
The Canadian businessman spotted Wakaya from an airplane and purchased the 2,200-acre island for $600,000. He was already successful—having built Clairtone (a hi-fi business), Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation (over 50 hotels across the South Pacific), and Barrick Gold Corporation with college friend Peter Munk from just $2,300 in savings during the 1950s.
The island became Gilmour’s sanctuary after his daughter Erin was murdered in 1983. He invested at least $13 million developing Wakaya, constructing everything from a freshwater reservoir to an airstrip, golf course, village, church, and school.
From exclusive resort to water inspiration
In 1990, Gilmour opened the Wakaya Club & Spa. Eight thatched-roof suites attracted celebrities like Bill Gates, Nicole Kidman, and Keith Richards. Room rates hit $1,200 to $1,400 per night.
The idea for Fiji Water struck during a golf game on his island. Gilmour watched a guest drinking imported Evian water and found it ridiculous. Why ship water from Europe when Fiji had pristine natural sources?
“There’s no acid rain, no industrial pollution, no pesticides. It’s the purest virgin ecosystem,” he later told the Palm Beach Post.
Gilmour enlisted geologists from Barrick Gold to search for the perfect water source. They found an ideal aquifer on Viti Levu island. He secured a 99-year lease with the Fijian government in 1995, paying royalties for extraction rights, then invested $48 million to build a bottling facility.
Building a luxury brand
Gilmour recruited Aspen businessman Doug Carlson as co-founder and CEO to run operations from Colorado. The company launched as Natural Waters of Viti Ltd in 1996, with initial distribution to guests at Wakaya Club and Gilmour’s hotel chain.
Commercial sales in the United States began in June 1997. The distinctive square bottles with partially clear labels helped the brand stand out on shelves. Gilmour positioned it as “the purest water in the world,” targeting premium markets in Los Angeles and Palm Beach first.
His Hollywood connections proved valuable. Fiji Water bottles appeared on “The Sopranos” and “Ally McBeal” while the company courted luxury restaurants and hotels. The strategy worked—by 2004, Fiji Water ranked as the second-largest imported water brand in America.
That same year, Gilmour sold to Roll International (now The Wonderful Company) for approximately $50 million, completing the journey from island sanctuary to global luxury brand.
The ethical questions surrounding Fiji Water
The Resnicks’ success with Fiji Water comes with complications on the ground in Fiji.
Government tensions and tax battles
Fiji Water’s relationship with the local government has been rocky. In 2010, Fiji’s military government imposed a 15-cent per liter tax on companies extracting more than 3.5 million liters of water monthly. The tax essentially targeted Fiji Water as the only company meeting this threshold.
Fiji Water responded by temporarily shutting down operations and threatening to leave permanently. The company eventually reopened after negotiations, but tensions persisted. In 2011, Fiji Water’s president was deported following tax evasion accusations.
The company does contribute significantly to Fiji’s economy. It accounts for approximately 3% of the country’s GDP and ranks among Fiji’s largest exporters.
The clean water paradox
Here’s where things get complicated: roughly 12% of Fiji’s population lacks access to clean, safe drinking water while the country exports millions of bottles annually.
Cyclone Winston in 2016 highlighted this disparity. Many Fijians had to drink water from streams or rainwater collection systems while their country’s premium water traveled thousands of miles to foreign markets.
Fiji Water has tried to address this through its foundation, which invests in water access projects for rural communities.
Employment and labor issues
The company faced a worker strike in 2008 over wages and working conditions. But Fiji Water also employs hundreds of Fijians in a country where job opportunities are limited.
This creates a complex situation where the company provides needed employment while workers push for better treatment.
Local perspectives on foreign ownership
Fijian opinions about the company remain split. Some appreciate the jobs and economic benefits Fiji Water brings. Others resent a foreign corporation profiting from their natural resources.
Critics point out that the Resnicks pay approximately $0.08 per thousand liters in extraction taxes to the Fijian government. That’s a small fraction of what consumers pay for each bottle. The company counters that it contributes through infrastructure development, humanitarian projects, and tourism promotion.
The debate reflects a larger question about resource extraction and benefit distribution that many developing countries face.
Environmental impact and the greenwashing debate
The Resnicks’ luxury water empire faces mounting scrutiny over its environmental claims and actual impact.
Fiji Water markets itself as pure and natural, but the reality behind those square bottles tells a different story. The company’s carbon emissions, plastic usage, and transparency issues have drawn criticism from environmental groups and researchers alike.
The carbon cost of global shipping
Moving water halfway around the world creates problems that go far beyond simple transportation costs.
Each bottle travels approximately 5,500 miles from Fiji to Los Angeles alone. This journey consumes roughly 46 million gallons of fossil fuel annually, produces 216 million pounds of greenhouse gases, and requires 1.3 billion gallons of water in the production process. The result? Producing and distributing a single bottle of Fiji Water needs about 6.74 kilograms (1.75 gallons) of water—2,000 times more energy than drinking tap water.
These numbers highlight the disconnect between marketing a “natural” product and the industrial-scale logistics required to deliver it to American consumers.
Plastic initiatives fall short of promises
Fiji Water has responded to plastic waste criticism by shifting toward recycled materials, but the timeline reveals how slowly these changes have come.
The company recently moved its 500ml and 330ml bottles to 100% recycled plastic (rPET) in the US, affecting almost 65% of its bottle volume. Studies suggest rPET can reduce carbon emissions by up to 79% compared to new materials. Fiji Water aims to use 100% rPET in all bottles by 2025.
Progress, but critics point out these changes came only after years of pressure from environmental advocates.
The “Carbon Negative” campaign that wasn’t
In 2008, Fiji Water launched what seemed like an ambitious environmental initiative. The company promised to offset 120% of its carbon footprint through tree planting and other measures.
The company calculated its 2007 emissions at 85,396 metric tons of CO2eq. But the execution fell far short of the marketing. By 2009, only 250 acres of trees had been planted, storing just 400 metric tons of carbon—nowhere near what was needed to offset their actual emissions. The company also admitted that promised offsets wouldn’t be fully realized until 2037.
The campaign quietly disappeared, but not before generating plenty of positive publicity for the brand.
When transparency disappears
Fiji Water’s commitment to environmental accountability has proven inconsistent when scrutinized closely.
In 2025, the Plastic Pollution Coalition sued Fiji Water for allegedly false and deceptive marketing. Laboratory tests found microplastics and bisphenol-A (BPA) in their products, contradicting the company’s “natural” marketing claims. The company also quietly removed its FIJIGreen.com website in 2010, eliminating public access to carbon reduction tracking data.
For a brand that built its reputation on purity and environmental consciousness, these transparency gaps raise questions about what other claims might not hold up under examination.
The reality behind the bottle
Stewart and Lynda Resnick own Fiji Water through The Wonderful Company. That much is clear.
What’s less clear is whether this luxury water brand represents smart business or questionable ethics. The Resnicks have built a $6 billion empire that includes Fiji Water alongside POM Wonderful and Wonderful Pistachios. Their combined wealth of approximately $10.6 billion speaks to their business acumen.
But Fiji Water’s story reveals uncomfortable truths about premium branding in a global economy.
The brand promises purity while its production creates environmental costs that dwarf local alternatives. It markets naturalness while laboratory tests find microplastics in the bottles. The company pledged to go “Carbon Negative” but fell dramatically short of those commitments.
Meanwhile, 12% of Fiji’s population lacks access to clean drinking water. The company pays minimal extraction fees while charging premium prices thousands of miles away. These contradictions matter more than marketing campaigns suggest.
You don’t have to boycott Fiji Water to understand what this story teaches. Behind every premium brand lies a web of decisions about resources, profits, and priorities. The distinctive square bottles might catch your eye on store shelves, but the real story happens far from retail displays.
If you choose Fiji Water, you’re choosing more than hydration. You’re participating in a system that ships water across oceans while local communities struggle with water access. That choice belongs to you, but it helps to know what you’re really buying.
The next time you see those bottles, remember that pristine marketing often masks complex realities.
FAQs
Q1. Who currently owns FIJI Water?
FIJI Water is owned by The Wonderful Company, a private corporation founded by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick. They acquired the brand in 2004 and have since integrated it into their diverse portfolio of premium food and beverage products.
Q2. What environmental concerns surround FIJI Water?
FIJI Water faces criticism for its significant carbon footprint due to long-distance transportation and plastic waste. The company has initiated efforts to use recycled plastic and claims to offset its emissions, but concerns persist about the overall environmental impact of bottling and shipping water across the globe.
Q3. How did FIJI Water originate?
FIJI Water was founded in 1996 by Canadian businessman David Gilmour. He discovered an aquifer in Fiji’s Yaqara Valley while developing a luxury resort on Wakaya Island. Gilmour saw an opportunity to create a premium bottled water brand, which quickly gained popularity and became a leading imported water brand in the US.
Q4. What ethical issues does FIJI Water face in Fiji?
FIJI Water has encountered several ethical challenges in Fiji, including tax disputes with the local government, concerns about clean water access for Fijians, and labor strikes. While the company provides employment and economic benefits, there are ongoing debates about the fairness of resource extraction and profit distribution.
Q5. Has FIJI Water faced any legal challenges regarding its product claims?
Yes, FIJI Water has faced legal challenges. In 2025, the company was sued by the Plastic Pollution Coalition for allegedly false and deceptive marketing. The lawsuit claimed that independent tests found microplastics and bisphenol-A (BPA) in FIJI Water, contradicting the company’s “natural” and “untouched” marketing claims.