Kering sells beauty division for billions

This week, Kering announced the sale of its beauty division to L'Oréal for an impressive four billion euros. With the acquisition, the French cosmetics giant adds the prestigious Creed perfume brand to its portfolio. For Kering, known for fashion houses like Gucci and Saint Laurent, the deal marks a fresh strategic direction under the leadership of new CEO Luca de Meo.

L'Oréal, which already holds the crown in the world of beauty and care, is adding a new jewel to its collection with this acquisition: the exclusive perfume brand Creed. This strengthens the French giant's position in the luxury segment and Kering is shelving a chapter of its beauty ambitions. The deal comes at a time when Kering is under the leadership of its new CEO, Luca de Meo, who only recently took over the helm. 

While four billion euros is anything but small change, in the world of mega-deals it seems like just a drop of perfume in a sea of ​​billions. Consider the record-breaking acquisition of Mannesmann by Vodafone in 2000, worth 175 billion euros; to this day one of the largest corporate mergers ever. Or the much-discussed merger between AOL and Time Warner, then valued at 160 billion euros, which heralded the dot-com dream.

The numbers also continue to stagger in the entertainment world. For example, Disney in 2018 21st Century Fox for 70 billion euros and thus obtained the rights to, among other things, X-Men, Avatar en National Geographic.