The owner of FIJI Water is The Wonderful Company, the private Los Angeles group co-owned by billionaires Stewart and Lynda Resnick. They bought the brand in 2004 from its founder, Canadian businessman David Gilmour, and it sits alongside POM Wonderful, Wonderful Pistachios and Teleflora in their portfolio.
The Wonderful Company isn’t publicly traded, and Forbes describes the couple as its co-owners, so there’s no public shareholder list to dig through.
Like Hobby Lobby, whose voting stock the Green family moved into a trust in 2022, FIJI Water has no public shareholders, so its finances stay private.
Who is the owner of FIJI Water in 2026?
Nothing has changed at the top. Forbes describes the Resnicks as cofounders and continuing co-owners of The Wonderful Company, and the company’s own brand page lists FIJI Water as one of its brands. When Fiji’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, opened an expanded FIJI Water plant in February 2024, his official remarks named Lynda and Stewart Resnick as FIJI Water’s co-owners.
How ownership flows, based on Forbes, The Wonderful Company and the Fijian government.
How did the Resnicks get FIJI Water?
Gilmour came up with the idea in the early 1990s and built the business around an artesian aquifer on Viti Levu, Fiji’s main island, where the bottling plant at Yaqara still runs. In November 2004, Roll International, the Resnicks’ holding company at the time, announced it had acquired FIJI Water. That company is now The Wonderful Company.
Two details in the record don’t match, and they show up in a lot of copy-pasted answers:
- Founding year. The company dates to 1996: Fiji’s prime minister, who opened the original bottling plant that year, dated the brand’s launch to 1996 in his February 2024 remarks. U.S. sales started in June 1997, and national U.S. distribution followed in 1998, according to the International Directory of Company Histories.
- Sale price. Neither side disclosed the price, but industry sources put it at about US$50 million at the time (Sydney Morning Herald, Nov. 30, 2004).
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | FIJI Water established by David Gilmour | FIJI Water, Nov. 2025 |
| 2004 | Resnicks’ Roll International buys the brand; terms undisclosed | BevNET, Nov. 2004 |
| 2010 | Plant briefly shut in a tax fight with Fiji’s government, then reopened | Associated Press |
| 2024 | Capacity expansion opened by Fiji’s prime minister | Fijian government, Feb. 2024 |
| 2025 | Alex Zigliara named president of FIJI Water | FIJI Water, Nov. 2025 |
Who is the CEO of FIJI Water?
FIJI Water uses the title president, not CEO. Alexandre “Alex” Zigliara took that job on December 1, 2025, running the business from Los Angeles, according to the company’s November 13, 2025 announcement. Stewart Resnick is chairman and president of the parent, The Wonderful Company, so the final say still sits with the owners.
How old is the owner of FIJI Water, and what is he worth?
Stewart Resnick is 89, according to Forbes, which put his real-time net worth at $5.4 billion as of October 24, 2026. Forbes estimates the couple’s combined fortune at about $11.6 billion. Those figures come mostly from farming, not water: Forbes lists his source of wealth as agriculture.
FIJI Water’s own revenue is private, and Forbes doesn’t break out a value for it.
Who is the FIJI Water Girl?
She’s Kelleth Cuthbert, a model whose real name is Kelly Steinbach. She was pouring FIJI Water at the January 2019 Golden Globes and went viral after appearing in the background of red-carpet photos. She later sued the company, saying it used her image in a marketing campaign without consent or payment.
FIJI Water countersued, saying she had agreed by email to a $90,000 brand-ambassador deal and then backed out, NBC News reported in February 2019. No public ruling or settlement turned up in my research. It’s still one of the better-known examples of a brand trying to capitalize on accidental fame, a long way from the planned campaigns covered in our NescafΓ© marketing strategy breakdown.
FIJI Water controversies worth knowing
The 2010 tax standoff. When Fiji’s government raised its water-extraction levy to 15 cents a liter on companies drawing more than 3.5 million liters a month, FIJI Water closed its plant and laid off about 400 workers. It reopened days later after meeting officials and agreed to comply, the Associated Press reported.
The 2024 recall. In March 2024, 78,533 cases of 500mL bottles, nearly 1.9 million bottles, were recalled after testing flagged manganese and bacteria. They had been sold online through Amazon, and the FDA rated it a Class III recall, its lowest-risk category. A Wonderful Company spokesperson said the issue never posed a health risk (NBC Chicago, June 2024).
FAQ
Do the Resnicks’ children or grandchildren own FIJI Water?
Not on the public record. Forbes, The Wonderful Company and the Fijian government all identify Stewart and Lynda Resnick as the owners. I found no filing or company statement naming a son, grandson or other relative as an owner, so claims about a family heir owning FIJI Water are unverified.
Where is FIJI Water bottled?
At the source in Fiji. The water comes from an artesian aquifer on Viti Levu, and the plant at Yaqara employs nearly 400 people, according to Fiji’s prime minister in February 2024. The company says it now ships to more than 80 countries, and the business is run from Los Angeles.