Japan’s Shiseido buys Bare Escentuals

Shiseido, Japan’s largest cosmetics group, is buying Bare Escentuals in a $1.7billion deal.

Bare Escentuals CEO Leslie Blodgett joined Bare Escentuals in 1994 – after stints at Neutrogena and Max Factor – and turned it from a pioneering niche provider of natural cosmetics into a mineral makeup powerhouse worth hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales hawking it on home shopping network QVC.

“I couldn’t be more pleased to be joining forces with the team at Shiseido,” said Blodgett. “We look forward to bringing our mineral-based beauty products to even more women worldwide.”

Bare Escentuals will operate as a separate division of Shiseido. By adding Bare Escentuals, Shiseido’s overseas sales will rise to 42 per cent of total sales from 38 per cent, and place it fourth among international brands – behind L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble and Unilever .

I wonder what this means for MD Formulations?

Read more about the Shiseido purchase here