Estée Lauder Companies (ELC) CEO Stéphane de La Faverie (pictured) has said he is open to M&A deals as the company enters the second year of its ‘Beauty Reimagined’ turnaround plan.
The executive told Bloomberg TV on 23 February that the beauty giant is focused on accelerating its growth and rebuilding profitability after a tricky 2025, and this could potentially include scaling and incubating new brands.
De La Faverie introduced ‘Beauty Reimagined’ in 2025 to boost flagging sales and drive significant transformation within the business, which included cost-cutting measures and significant job losses.
An update also revealed how much the business had spent on its restructuring so far.
“For us, we are in a period of execution. It is very important that ‘Beauty Reimagined’ – we are at the beginning of this journey,” said de La Faverie on Bloomberg TV.
“The first year we delivered on our promises, the second year for me is about now accelerating the growth, and making sure that we are simplifying the way we are working, rebuilding profitability.
“But at the same time we are looking at our portfolio – and I have been very public on that.
“We are looking at the portfolio and we will always be part of the M&A discussion.
‘If you look at our 80 years of history, we have bought a lot of companies.
“Lately, The Ordinary and Tom Ford were part of it, but M&A is not only about buying something new, it is also about incubating new brands.”
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Although it was a tricky 2025 for the company, ELC reported sales growth for Q2 2026 trading.
Net sales at the beauty conglomerate increased 6% to US$4.2bn for the quarter ending 31 December 2025, while gross profit also increased by 6% to $3.2bn.
Despite ELC posting its second consecutive quarter of growth in 2026, stocks in the company crashed by double-digits due to an overly-cautious outlook.
De La Faverie also revealed on the show that ELC is off to a “very strong start” this year in China, especially in fragrance.
He also said The Ordinary is selling well in the US.
When asked by the Bloomberg TV presenter if ELC will be buying more than it is selling, de La Faverie replied, “the future will tell”.
This question was posed as rumours swirl in the industry that ELC is allegedly looking to sell three brands within its beauty portfolio – Dr. Jart+, Too Faced and Smashbox.
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