Lauders continue legacy with Max Factor family acquisition

The Estee Lauder Companies Inc, the luxury cosmetics group controlled by the Lauder family, announced yesterday is plans to acquire Smashbox Beauty Cosmetics Inc, a privately-held cosmetics company owned by descendents of make-up legend Max Factor.

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed, however Estee Lauder said it expected the deal to add to earnings by 2011. It also hopes the Smashbox brand will appeal to new and younger customers and plans to expand the brand both in its native US and internationally.
 
Third-generation executive chairman of Estee Lauder, William Lauder, said: "One of the enduring strengths of the Estee Lauder Companies is our ability to identify brands with unique positioning and nurture those brands to accelerate their momentum and realise their full growth potential.
 
"The addition of Smashbox to our portfolio continues this 64-year-legacy. We expect that with our strong cultural synergies and shared appreciation of family heritage, this will be a wonderful union," he concluded.
 
Smashbox was founded in 1996 by Dean and Davis Factor, great-grandsons of Max Factor, and has grown to become a specialty cosmetics brand. According to yesterday's statement, both founders will remain at the company to help facilitate the integration plan.
 
Estee Lauder was founded in 1946 when Joseph Lauder and his wife Estee (pictured) began producing cosmetics in New York. Under their son Leonard the business grew into an international concern, which today has revenues of $7.3 billion.

William began working at the family company in 1986 and replaced his father as executive chairman in 2009, during a well planned succession that also saw the introduction of non-family CEO Fabrizio Freda. (Continue reading here)

Second-generation brothers Ronald and Leonard Lauder won campdenFB.com's Family Business Leader of the Year 2009 for the way they oversaw one of the most seamless successions of recent times (continue reading here). 

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