Key Takeaways
- Ashton Hall told Cam Newton on his Funky Friday podcast that he turned down a Saratoga Water deal because it didn’t include equity, saying he has no shares and is "not with them at all" despite his viral morning routine boosting their Google searches by a reported 1,400 percent.
- Hall said he's "big on ownership" and wants long-term equity and a major exit instead of short-term endorsement cash, comparing his approach to Jeff Bezos with Amazon and Elon Musk with Tesla and noting he already holds stakes in an energy drink brand and Price.com.
- Even after walking away from the offer, Hall stressed he has "no hard feelings," still drinks Saratoga, and continues to feature the water organically in his content for his 40 million-plus followers.
Ashton Hall has revealed why he turned down a potentially huge collaborative deal with Saratoga Water.
Appearing on a new episode of Cam Newton's Funky Friday podcast, Hall confirmed he has no shares in Saratoga Water and is not officially partnered with the brand, despite his morning routine videos sending searches for the company skyrocketing.
Newton surfaced the question directly, asking Hall whether he held any shares in the brand. "No shares. Nah, no, I'm actually not with them at all," Hall replied around the three-minute mark of the video below.
The admission is striking given how publicly Saratoga leaned into the viral wave. Hall said Saratoga had been pursuing a collaboration for some time, though he stopped short of detailing what the proposed terms looked like.
According to Hall, what killed any potential agreement came down to one word: ownership. "I'm just big on ownership," he explained. "We can make cash. We can make money. That's cool. But it's like I want to make money when I sleep. I want my kids to see what his dad did in 2025, 2026 in the years on rather than just, you know, we had a good year."
He continued: "I could get another watch, another car. So, it's like I like to invest my time into the companies that I can go in and have a big exit strategy with that particular company."
Despite walking away from a deal, Hall said he has no hard feelings toward the brand and continues to use the product organically. "I got love. I still drink Saratoga. You see Saratoga's all in my videos still to this day."
