L'Oréal S.A. () is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris"Statuts (PDF). ." L'Oréal. 16 April 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2010. and headquartered in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine. As of 2024, it is the world's largest cosmetics company. As of the early 2020s, L'Oréal owned 36 brands and 497 patents.
History Founding In the early 20th century, Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (1881–1957), a French chemist, developed a hair dye formula called l'Auréale. Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products, which he sold to Parisian hairdressers. On 31 July 1909, Schueller registered his company,Corporate financial reporting by Amberr Aslamm on Prezi. Prezi.com. Retrieved on 12 April 2015. the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France), which eventually became L'Oréal. In 1920, the company employed three chemists; the number of employees continued to grow, with 100 by 1950, and 1,000 by 1984; in 2021, there was an estimated total of 85,252 worldwide.
After launching in the hair-colour business, L'Oréal branched out into other cleansing and beauty products. As of 2020, L'Oréal marketed in all sectors of the beauty business: hair colour, hair styling, body and skincare, cleansers, makeup, and fragrance.
Recent history and acquisitions L'Oréal purchased Synthélabo, a pharmaceutical company, in 1973. Synthélabo merged with Sanofi in 1999 to become Sanofi-Synthélabo. Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventis in 2004 to become Sanofi-Aventis.
Nestlé has owned a stake in L'Oréal since 1974, when it bought into the company at the request of Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of the founder of L'Oréal.
In 1984, L'Oréal acquired part of Helena Rubinstein Incorporated from Albi International. The portions acquired were the Japanese and Latin American divisions of the company, along with overseeing the operations and the markets for those divisions. The joint venture partnership between L'Oréal and Albi International lasted until 1988, when L'Oréal brought the remainder of the company and has owned the entire company since then.
From 1988 to 1989, L'Oréal controlled the film company Paravision International, whose properties included the Filmation and De Laurentiis libraries. StudioCanal acquired the Paravision properties in 1994.
On 20 August 2002, L'Oréal announced that its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, L'Oréal USA, had acquired ARTec Systems Group, Inc., a professional salon hair care and hair color company based in Port Washington, New York, for an undisclosed sum. Founded in 1990 by Leland Hirsch and Michael Mazzei, ARTec sold hair care, hair color and styling products under the Textureline, Purehair, Kiwi, Enamels and Spaline names through roughly 20,000 U.S. salons, and reported net sales to distributors of $38 million in the previous year. L'Oréal said the purchase was intended to broaden the L'Oréal Professionnel brand beyond hair color, which had accounted for the large majority of the division's U.S. sales. ARTec's Port Washington operations were merged into L'Oréal Professional's New York office, and both founders left their posts while remaining as contract consultants. The ARTec lines were subsequently absorbed into L'Oréal Professionnel and the standalone brand was retired.CITATION NEEDED
On 17 March 2006, L'Oréal purchased cosmetics company The Body Shop for £562 million. In May 2008, L'Oréal acquired YSL Beauté for $1.8 billion.
In 2014, L'Oréal finalized the acquisition of major Chinese beauty brand Magic Holdings for $840 million. In February 2014, L'Oréal agreed to buy back 8% of its shares for €3.4bn from Nestlé. In February 2014, Shiseido agreed to sell its Carita and Decléor brands to L'Oréal for €227.5 million (US$312.93 million (2014)). In June 2014, L'Oréal agreed to acquire NYX Cosmetics for an undisclosed price, bolstering its makeup offerings in North America. Also that year, L'Oréal announced it had agreed to purchase Brazilian hair care company Niely Cosmeticos Group for an undisclosed amount. In September 2014, L'Oréal acquired the brand Carol's Daughter. In July 2016, L'Oréal agreed to acquire IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion.
In 2017, Bettencourt died and left the business to her daughter, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers.
In 2018, L'Oréal acquired the beauty technology company ModiFace. In May 2018, L'Oréal announced a new beauty and fragrance partnership with Valentino. In December 2020, L'Oréal announced that it would acquire Takami Co, a Japanese skincare company.
In 2021, L'Oréal announced the acquisition of the vegan skincare brand Youth to the People.
In April 2023, L'Oréal purchased Australian luxury cosmetics brand Aesop for . In December 2023, L'Oréal announced its acquisition of the Danish research company Lactobio.
In 2024, L’Oréal announced its acquisition of Gjosa, a Swiss water conservation startup. In February 2024, L’Oréal announced its signing of a long-term global licensing agreement for the creation, development and distribution of luxury beauty products by the Italian brand Miu Miu.
In August 2024, L'Oréal opened a research and innovation center in India. In December 2024, L'Oréal expanded its portfolio by acquiring a stake in a leading Korean cosmetics company Gowoonsesang Cosmetics and its brand Dr.G from Swiss retailer Migros. In March 2025, L’Oréal sold hair care brand Carol's Daughter to an unnamed entrepreneur.
In June 2025, L'Oreal signed an agreement to acquire haircare brand Color Wow.
In October 2025, L'Oreal announced a deal to buy Kering's beauty business for approximately €4 billion. The deal includes cologne brand House of Creed and exclusive rights to develop fragrances and beauty products for Kering labels—including Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga—for 50 years.
In August 2026, Priyanka Bhargav joined L'Oreal India as the head of consumer intelligence and brand strategy.
Corporate affairs
Head office L'Oréal Group has its head office in the Centre Eugène Schueller in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, close to Paris."World Presence." L'Oréal. Retrieved 14 July 2010. The building, constructed in the 1970s from brick and steel, replaced the former Monsavon factory, and employees moved into the facility in 1978. 1,400 employees work in the building."2.000 salariés de L'Oréal à Clichy ." Le Journal du Net. Retrieved 7 July 2010. " Construit à la fin des années 1970 en briques et acier, le Centre Eugène Schueller se dresse à l'emplacement de l'ancienne usine Monsavon, à Clichy-la-Garenne dans les Hauts-de-Seine. Les salariés du siège de l'Oréal y ont emménagé à partir de 1978. Aujourd'hui, ils sont 1.400 à y travailler." In 2005, Nils Klawitter of Der Spiegel said "the building, with its brown glazed façade of windows, is every bit as ugly as its neighbourhood." Klawitter added that the facility "gives the impression of a high-security zone" due to the CCTV cameras and security equipment.Klawitter, Nils. "L'Oréal's Great Bluff". Der Spiegel. 7 March 2005. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
International units include:
L'Oréal USA, changed from Cosmair in 2000 - has its headquarters in New York City, and is responsible for operations in the Americas.Contact Us , L'Oréal USA L'Oréal Canada Incorporated - Canadian operations, based in Montreal L'Oréal Australia - head office is in Melbourne L'Oréal Nordic - head office is in Copenhagen, Denmark L'ORÉAL Deutschland GmbH - legal seat is in Karlsruhe, head office is in Düsseldorf
Research and development facilities L'Oréal has 21 worldwide research and development centers: three global centers in France: Aulnay, Chevilly and Saint-Ouen. Six regional poles include one in the United States: Clark, New Jersey; one in Japan: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture; in 2005, one was established in Shanghai, China, another in India: Mumbai, one other regional pole in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro and, lastly, another was established in South Africa: Johannesburg.
Corporate governance Jean-Paul Agon is the chairman and Nicolas Hieronimus the chief executive officer of L'Oréal. Jean Victor Meyers and Paul Bulcke are vice chairmen of the board of directors.
Stockholders As of 31 December 2023: Breakdown of share ownership: 34.73% by the Bettencourt family, 30.7% by international institutional investors, 20.13% by Nestlé, 6.63% by French institutional investors, 5.92% by individual shareholders, 1.89% by employees.
Business figures
+Financial data in € billionsYear2013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025Revenue22.97722.53225.25725.83726.02426.93729.87427.99232.28838.26141.18343.48744.052Net Income2.9584.9103.2973.1063.5863.8953.7503.5634.5975.7076.1846.4096.127Assets31.29832.06333.71135.63035.33938.45843.81043.60743.01346.84451.85556.35361.821Employees77,45278,61182,88189,33182,60686,03087,97485,39285,41287,26494,60594,39794,610
Joint ventures and minority interests L'Oréal holds 10.41% of the shares of Sanofi-Aventis, the world's number three and Europe's number one pharmaceutical company. The Laboratoires Innéov is a joint venture in nutritional cosmetics between L'Oréal and Nestlé; they draw on Nestlé's knowledge in the fields of nutrition and food safety.
Brand portfolio
Brands are generally categorized by their targeted markets, such as the mass, professional, luxurious, and active cosmetics markets. Galderma is directly attached to the head office. L'Oréal also owns interests in various activities such as fine chemicals, health, finance, design, advertising, and insurance.All the brands of the L'Oréal Group: Garnier, L'Oréal Paris, Redken, Maybelline, Kerastase. L'Oréal. (8 December 2009).
In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Madrid Yearly Review ranked L'Oréal's number of marks applications filled under the Madrid System as 1st in the world, with 199 trademarks applications submitted during 2023.
Consumer products division
Dark and Lovely Professional Expertise Essie, founded in 1981 and acquired by L'Oreal in 2010This woman's name is in more than 25,000 nail salons. Fortune.com. Retrieved on 16 July 2017. Garnier La Provençale L'Oréal Paris Maybelline Mixa Niely Cosmetics NYX Professional Makeup Thayers Natural Remedies Vogue Cosmetics 3CE Makeup & Cosmetics
L'Oréal luxurious division
Aesop Armani Beauty and Fragrances Atelier Cologne Azzaro Biotherm Cacharel Fragrances Carita Creed Fragrances Diesel Fragrances Helena Rubinstein Incorporated IT Cosmetics Jacquemus la Beauté Kering Beauty and Fragrances Kiehl's Lancôme Maison Margiela Paris Fragrances Medik8 Miu Miu Fragrances MUGLER Prada Proenza Schouler Ralph Lauren Fragrances Shu Uemura Cosmetics Takami Labo Urban Decay Valentino Beauty Viktor & Rolf Fragrances Yue Sai Beauty Youth to the People Yves Saint Laurent Beauté
Professional products division
Biolage Professional Hair Spa Carol's Daughter Kérastase (created by L'Oreal in 1964) L’Oréal Professionnel Paris Matrix Haircare Mizani PulpRiot Hair Coloring Pureology Serious Color Care Redken 5th Avenue NYC, founded by Paula Kent and Jheri Redding in 1960 and acquired by L'Oreal in 1993 Shu Uemura Art of Hair
L’Oréal Dermatological Beauty
AcneFree Ambi CeraVe (Owned by Bausch Health and sold to L'Oréal in 2017) Clarisonic Dermablend La Roche-Posay Logocos Sanoflore Skinbetter Science Skinceuticals Advanced Professional Skincare Vichy's Vichy cosmetics
Marketing In Kosovo, during the growth years of the mail-order business, L'Oréal and 3 Suisses founded Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté for mail-order sales of cosmetic products, with brands including Agnès b., Commence and Professeur Christine Poelman among others. In March 2008, L'Oréal acquired three Suisse's stake, taking sole control of the company."L'Oreal buys stake in beauty brand", Cosmetics Design Asia. Retrieved on 13 June 2013. In November 2013, L'Oréal announced that Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté would cease activity in the first half of 2014.