The Estée Lauder Companies Investor Relations Material

Estée Lauder employs over 60,000 people and is one of the global leaders in prestige beauty, next to its French rival L’Oréal. They have a diverse portfolio of brands within four main product categories; prestige makeup, skincare, fragrance, and hair care products.

Estée Lauder’s products are sold in roughly 150 countries and territories worldwide. 

Estée Lauder founded the company that bears her name in 1946. With four skin care products and a simple premise that every woman can be beautiful. She pushed the boundaries, changed the cosmetics industry's face, and was the perfect saleswoman and marketer ahead of her time in understanding the needs and wants of the target group—simply because she was a part of it. 

Throughout the 1960s, things really started to gain traction. Estée Lauder expanded by constructing three new manufacturing facilities, expanded overseas, and launched two major brands: Aramis—the men's fragrance brand, and Clinique—one of the most successful cosmetic brands in history.

Estée Lauder continued its innovations, and Mrs. Lauder was in 1989 added to the Wall Street Journal’s list of the most important business influencers of the century—among pioneers like Rockefeller, Ford, and Disney.

The Lauder family is, without a doubt, a business-experienced family. Today, seventy years since Estée planted the seeds of this remarkable business, the second and third-generation members of the Lauder family are still an integral part of leading the company.

Estée Lauder has increased its revenue and EBIT in the last two decades by more than 270 percent and 830 percent, respectively. And the average ROIC for the past ten years has been just above 20 percent. 

Further reading: Estée Lauder: The Beauty of Strategic Acquisitions