L'Oréal
French multinational cosmetics and beauty company
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Key Takeaways
- ( French: [lɔʁe.
- As of 2024, it is the world's largest cosmetics company.
- History Founding In the early 20th century, Eugène Paul Louis Schueller (1881–1957), a French chemist, developed a hair dye formula called l'Auréale .
- On 31 July 1909, Schueller registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France), which eventually became L'Oréal.
- After launching in the hair-colour business, L'Oréal branched out into other cleansing and beauty products.
L'Oréal S.A. (French: [lɔʁe.al]) is a French multinational personal care corporation registered in Paris 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, 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.
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