Hailey Bieber had heard the horror stories before she ever sat down with e.l.f. Beauty.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard a lot of stories from founders that had gone through acquisitions and had regrets and were not super happy with where their brand went,\u201d Bieber said onstage at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit on Wednesday. \u201cI went into it with a mindset of really wanting to know that Rhode was going to be safe where it was going.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bieber and Lauren Ratner launched Rhode in 2022, and three years later e.l.f. Beauty agreed to buy the brand in a deal worth up to $1 billion, one of the buzziest beauty acquisitions in recent years. Bieber has since stayed on to lead creative and product innovation alongside Ratner, Rhode\u2019s cofounder, president, and chief brand officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Bieber, the deciding factor wasn\u2019t the price. In fact, Bieber said discussions about profit margins hate to see her coming, she told Fortune\u2019<\/em>s Ellie Austin. When deciding whether to sell the brand she launched, Bieber said she wanted to know that she would still have a major role in the company she helped build.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cThat was my one fear, really\u2014that I would sell my company, and then they were gonna say, \u2018Okay, we\u2019re gonna put this person in and this person in,\u2019 and then, \u2018We want to make the team bigger around product development,\u2019 and that I would start feeling like I didn\u2019t have as much say,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s my baby, it\u2019s our baby. We\u2019ve grown it from literally day zero, ground up.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re not going to fix what\u2019s not broken\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\nBieber said she laid out every concern to e.l.f. from the beginning, including that she couldn\u2019t imagine stepping back from the business. Their response was a happy surprise. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey were like, \u2018Oh my gosh, we want you to be more involved if you want to,\u2019\u201d Bieber recalled. \u201cI feel like you never hear that from an acquirer\u2014that they want you to be as in it as you were before, if not even more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ratner said the pair worried an acquirer might start \u201cmeddling in the business,\u201d dictating how Rhode should move forward. Instead, she said, e.l.f. was explicit about its intentions. \u201cE.l.f. was very clear: \u2018We\u2019re not going to fix what\u2019s not broken. You guys are doing an incredible job. You have a secret, special sauce,\u2019\u201d Ratner said. \u201c\u2018We just want to supercharge the back end, and let you guys do what you do best.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Bieber said e.l.f. walked her through, in detail, how it had supported the founders of every brand it had previously acquired. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me, \u2018We don\u2019t want to come in, we don\u2019t want to change anything. We really want you to continue operating exactly how you are,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cYou have to trust that, and you have to follow your instinct.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than a year after the deal, Bieber says e.l.f. has kept its word. When Austin asked her which decisions remain exclusively hers, she didn\u2019t hesitate.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty much all of them,\u201d Bieber said. \u201cEverything that they said before we were acquired, they have stuck to 100%. They have really just let us fly and let us continue to make every decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
If anything, her role has grown, she added. Bieber now holds the title of chief creative officer at Rhode and serves as a strategic advisor to e.l.f. Beauty as a whole, weighing in on the parent company\u2019s products. \u201cAny question they have for me, they can come to me and ask me, \u2018Hey, what do you think about this product? Will you test this for us?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt really has been genuinely the dream scenario.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why sell at all?<\/strong><\/h2>\nRhode was growing quickly on its own, and Bieber and Ratner said a sale wasn\u2019t on their immediate agenda. \u201cI don\u2019t think we at that moment were thinking, \u2018This is what we\u2019re going to do right now,\u2019\u201d Bieber said, adding that the opportunity \u201ctook us a little bit by surprise.\u201d She declined to say who approached whom.<\/p>\n
Timing mattered. Rhode was preparing to launch in Sephora, and Bieber wanted a partner that had done it before. Ratner said the brand\u2019s lean team had reached its limits.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a small, mighty, nimble team, and we felt like we had taken it as far as we could with that team,\u201d Ratner said. \u201cWe really needed the infrastructure of a bigger partner to scale globally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bieber said she, Ratner, and Ratner\u2019s husband\u2014Rhode\u2019s third cofounder\u2014reached the decision together. \u201cWhen you have the synergy of all feeling good about it, it also makes the decision seem even more right,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The bet appears to be paying off. Rhode generated roughly $390 million in net sales in fiscal 2026, an 80% increase from the year before, and the company has said it wants to pass $1 billion.<\/p>\n
Getting there depends on retail. Rhode, which built its business selling direct to consumers, entered Sephora in the U.S. last September. Ratner said Rhode is now the No. 1 brand in every retail market it operates in, including Sephora U.S., Sephora U.K., and Mecca in Australia.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks ago, the brand launched with Sephora in Europe across 19 new markets and more than 500 doors. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur first day of online sales for Rhode with Sephora EU actually surpassed the total Sephora EU Black Friday sales for the year prior,\u201d Ratner said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Hailey #Bieber #sold #Rhode #e.l.f #Beauty #addressed #main #fear #acquisition<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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