Estee Lauder

Estée Lauder Companies' acquisition of Tom Ford is a shrewd move that will allow the world's second largest beauty company to better compete with its rival ...

According to the data and analytics firm, sole ownership of the Tom Ford brand would allow Estée Lauder to be more profitable in the long run. Domenico De Sole, chairman of Tom Ford International, will stay on as a consultant for the same period. Tom Ford Beauty was first introduced by Estée Lauder in 2006, offering a collection of luxury fragrance, make-up and skin care products, and had a strong track record of growth. Over the next couple of years, Estée Lauder said it expected the brand to hit annual net sales of $1bn. Although still popular with many consumers, these brands could not meet the high expectations of young consumer who are looking for innovation and are curious to try new beauty products and brands,” said Willmott. There have been plenty of smaller transactions, such as Puig’s acquisition of fragrance brand Byredo, L’Oréal investing in Japanese personalized beauty start-up Sparty and Shiseido’s investment in Perfect Corp, but nothing on this scale.