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Business of Fashion
3 days ago
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Beauty's Hottest New Trend: The Founder Buyback
On Tuesday, influencer-turned-mogul Huda Kattan announced that she had regained majority ownership of her eponymous makeup brand, Huda Beauty, after buying back the minority stake private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners took in 2017, The Business of Beauty reported. The news arrived months after Kattan's sister Mona Kattan purchased Kayali, the fragrance brand she co-founded, alongside PE firm General Atlantic; that transaction set up funding for Huda Beauty's buyback. It was a sister act of multimillion dollar proportions. After last week's billion dollar acquisition of Rhode by E.l.f. Beauty and Church & Dwight's $700 million purchase of hand sanitiser label Touchland, the 2025 M&A beauty market appears to be looking up. But the arc of Huda Beauty traces along a bigger shift in the beauty industry. When the brand launched in 2013, it did so in the heat of the celebrity makeup moment; Kylie Jenner's pigmented lip kits and Rihanna's 40-shades of foundation came next. Billion dollar valuations followed for an elite set that included Kattan, Jenner and makeup artists like Anastasia Soare, Charlotte Tilbury and Pat McGrath. In the years since, some have seen their businesses flourish (see: Puig's majority acquisition of Charlotte Tilbury, valued at $1.2 billion) while others have lost their grip. In the decade since Huda Beauty's debut, a shiny new class of celebrity founders, like Bieber's Rhode and Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty, have risen to the vanguard, succeeding with direct customer relationships and outsize sales, strong operational teams and a simple but refined focus on exactly what they do well. A following is no longer enough in the cut-throat beauty business, unless you can continuously convert them to shoppers. The Social Network What does Kattan have? In addition to an estimated $450 million in annual sales as of 2024, the brand benefits from a wide international distribution and a wide array of best-sellers. But its most impressive feat may be that, despite 12 years in business — 120 years in beauty — Kattan hasn't lost her relevance online. Huda Beauty's best asset is Huda herself. As a vlogger, the US-born and Dubai-based Kattan was perhaps something of the original beauty influencer. Her own line, which she founded with her sisters Mona and Alya, was an instant hit, as her high-definition makeup looks (fluffy lashes, sleek contours) and a critic's eye toward formulas translated seamlessly into a cosmetic range that still mints regular hits, like last year's Easy Blur airbrush foundation. In 2014, four years after Instagram launched, Kattan hit 1 million followers; three years later, she had 18 million, and has 57 million today, according to the app. RivalIQ calculated that @hudabeauty's engagement rate is eight times the going average for beauty brands. If Kattan's public support of Palestinians in the Gaza war has polarised some of her audience, the tens of thousands of comments her posts draw seem only to strengthen her reach. Trends like the clean girl aesthetic and 'Euphoria' makeup may have come and gone, but Kattan's influence still powers Huda Beauty the brand; it consistently outranks others when it comes to social media performance. It was the #4 top ranked makeup brand in 2024, beating out LVMH's Dior and Fenty, said Launchmetrics. In the first quarter 2025, it was the top of CreatorIQ's list, narrowly besting Selena Gomez' Rare Beauty. Spate analyst Mathilde Riba reported that Huda Beauty charts nearly a 7 out of 10 on the firm's 'sentiment index.' Buyback to Bounce Back As a Revlon makeup artist living in opulent Dubai, Kattan's ultra-glam look hooked a generation of beauty obsessives on her cosmetics almost immediately. But two subsequent skincare forays, Wishful (launched in 2020) and Glowish (in 2021) were less successful, and ultimately didn't satisfy customers who had fallen for Kattan's contours and cut creases. The lines were eventually phased out of Sephora, and now linger on the line's e-commerce website. Kattan heads into the next phase 'hyper-focused' on Huda Beauty, she told Women's Wear Daily — an easier task without the distractions of the fragrance and skincare businesses. But the founder-led buyback can be tricky: French conglomerate Coty took a $71 million loss when it sold its stake in skincare brand Skkn back to founder Kim Kardashian three years after its purchase. And the clean label Beautycounter, which founder Gregg Renfrew bought out of bankruptcy last year, has taken time to reposition itself ahead of a relaunch scheduled for this summer. Huda Beauty and TSG may not have had the fairytale exit that Charlotte Tilbury scored with Puig, but given the glut of colour cosmetics brands currently in market, maybe it was the best outcome. The San Francisco-based TSG Consumer Partners, is known to be more of a short-term investor; the firm took a minority stake in It Cosmetics in 2012, cashing out in 2016 when the brand sold to L'Oréal for $1.2 billion. It made a similar manoeuvre with E.l.f., in which it bought a minority stake in 2011 that grew to a majority stake by 2014, two years before the line's IPO. More recently, it announced a 'strategic growth investment' in Marianna Hewitt and Lauren Ireland''s Summer Fridays, implying that influencer-fronted brands still have bright futures ahead. And what of the fierce competition? As more and more beauty brands come to market and also languish in the M&A waiting room, they'd be wise to stay close to their core. That's the thing about a once-in-a-lifetime founder: There's only one person who can see the vision through. Otherwise, they have to let it go. With additional reporting by Priya Rao. Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your complimentary, must-read source for the day's most important beauty and wellness news and analysis.
Business of Fashion
3 days ago
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Huda Kattan Buys Back Huda Beauty
Huda Kattan has regained full ownership of Huda Beauty after buying back a minority stake held by private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners, the company announced Tuesday. Kattan, an Iraqi-American beauty influencer credited with driving the mid-aughts trend towards bold makeup looks, founded the Sephora and Boots-stocked prestige cosmetics brand in 2013 with a $6,000 loan. In 2017, she sold a minority stake in the business to TSG at a $1.2 billion valuation. 'Taking back full ownership of Huda Beauty is a deeply very important moment for me,' said Kattan in a statement. 'As we step into this new chapter, I'm more committed than ever to pushing boundaries, staying true to our roots, and showing up for our incredible community every step of the way.' Earlier this year, Huda Beauty sold its fragrance line, Kayali, to General Atlantic and Mona Kattan, a co-founder of the line and sister of Huda Kattan, buying out TSG's stake. Sign up to The Business of Beauty newsletter, your must-read source for the day's most important beauty and wellness news and analysis. Learn more: Beauty's Top M&A Targets for 2025 After a slow year for acquisitions, brands and investors alike are hoping that 2025 will yield bigger exits. But with most strategic buyers like L'Oréal operating with an even narrower lens, only a select few firms will make it across the finish line.
CairoScene
3 days ago
- Business
- CairoScene
Huda Kattan Reacquires Full Ownership of Huda Beauty
With this transition, Huda Beauty joins a select group of major beauty brands that are entirely founder-owned. Jun 03, 2025 Huda Kattan, founder and co-CEO of Huda Beauty, has announced the reacquisition of full ownership of her cosmetics brand by buying back the minority stake held by TSG Consumer Partners since 2017. The move ends an eight-year partnership with the private equity firm, restoring Huda Beauty to complete founder ownership. Founded in 2013 in Dubai, Huda Beauty rose to fame with its bestselling false eyelashes and has since evolved into a global beauty powerhouse. The company is now solely led by Kattan, with her husband, Christopher Goncalo, serving as Co-CEO and her sister, Alya Kattan, heading social strategy. Earlier this year, the brand sold its fragrance line, KAYALI, to co-founder Mona Kattan and private equity firm General Atlantic, facilitating the buyback of TSG's stake. With this transition, Huda Beauty joins a select group of major beauty brands that remain entirely founder-owned
Wall Street Journal
12-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Private-Equity Firm TSG Consumer to Buy Budget Gym Chain in Latest Fitness Deal
Private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners has struck a deal for budget-friendly gym chain EoS Fitness, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal, expected to be announced later Monday, values EoS at about $1.5 billion, including debt, the people said.
