Estee Lauder in talks to buy TF

[jkonick]

Estée Lauder Might Buy Tom Ford, Report Says

The iconic cosmetics company is in talks to purchase the Ford brand, which is primarily known for its menswear.

www.thedailybeast.com

This detail caught my attention:

"Tom Ford has a growing cosmetics line, and people familiar with the potential deal told WSJ that the company could potentially be interested in licensing the Tom Ford clothing lines elsewhere."

Will we be seeing some kind of Tom Ford x [Cheapo Brand] fragrances?

 

[scentless_nameless]

Tom Ford Beauty is already owned by Estée Lauder.

"2005​

Designer beauty

Designer Tom Ford updates an Estée Lauder classic with Youth-Dew Amber Nude and the Company signs with him to develop and distribute fragrances and cosmetics under the Tom Ford Beauty brand."
From https://www.elcompanies.com/en/who-we-are/key-moments#2004-thrid-generation-of-family-leadership

 

[naylor]

Tom Ford Beauty is already owned by Estée Lauder.

Yep, this. They've owned Tom Ford Beauty since it's inception.

 

[cacio]

I saw an article on this on the WSJ. The article says that Estee Lauder has a licensing deal, but they don't own the brand (ie I assume that this means they produce the beauty products, but don't have control on the brand). The WSJ floated a possible number of about $3bn, which seems like a lot (this would be for the brand as a whole, but most of the profits, I assume, come from beauty). They didn't discuss perfumes vs makeup, but in recent years it's the makeup industry that has grown.

cacio

 

[N.CAL Fragrance Reviewer]

Tom Ford Beauty is already owned by Estée Lauder.

That's been widely known knowledge. Buying the TF brand as a whole isn't a surprise.

 

[hednic]

Tom Ford Beauty is already owned by Estée Lauder.

​

This.

 

[rum]

Will we be seeing some kind of Tom Ford x [Cheapo Brand] fragrances?

Bar one or two, I always counted TF's scents (sold under his own brand) to be cheapo fragrances that are sold at uber-niche prices.

On a more serious note, thanks very much for posting this.

 

[Brooks Otterlake]

I saw an article on this on the WSJ. The article says that Estee Lauder has a licensing deal, but they don't own the brand (ie I assume that this means they produce the beauty products, but don't have control on the brand). The WSJ floated a possible number of about $3bn, which seems like a lot (this would be for the brand as a whole, but most of the profits, I assume, come from beauty). They didn't discuss perfumes vs makeup, but in recent years it's the makeup industry that has grown.

cacio

Yes, the WSJ article goes into it in better detail.

We know Tom Ford is looking to sell his entire brand (not just cosmetics, but all lines), as reported by Bloomberg.

Given that Estee Lauder has been such a significant partner, it makes sense that they'd move from licencee to full-on owner of the brand. They have a lot of skin in the game.

 

[GRISMONTAIGNE]

Welp...i will stick to Chanel, Hermes and Guerlain. TF is going down the drain, which is really sad. constantly raising prices and discontinuing amazing stuff.

 

[maksidrom]

Obviously ELC is buying TF for the "beauty" part of it, but I find particularly interesting the little blurb that should the deal go through ELC could license off the clothing business. Kinda reminds me of tech companies buying manufacturers for IP and patents and then licensing the rest off.

 

[ultravisitor]

Welp...i will stick to Chanel, Hermes and Guerlain. TF is going down the drain, which is really sad. constantly raising prices and discontinuing amazing stuff.

Honestly, I've pretty much felt that Tom Ford has always been down the drain.

 

[cacio]

The split beauty/fashion presumably reflects the fact that for TF beauty is the source of profits. I don't have direct information, but I have the impression that the clothing and accessories side didn't develop much-it's just not grown as much as one might have expected. but perhaps they still need the fashion part to sustain the name and the prices on the cosmetic side.

EL has been buying several makeup brands-the article cited things like too face and the like. A few years back there were talks about buying Charlotte Tilbury, reportedly they gave up when the asked price was >$1b.

cacio

 

[Brooks Otterlake]

Obviously ELC is buying TF for the "beauty" part of it, but I find particularly interesting the little blurb that should the deal go through ELC could license off the clothing business. Kinda reminds me of tech companies buying manufacturers for IP and patents and then licensing the rest off.

Tom Ford's suits are already made by Ermenegildo Zegna (with materials/patterns exclusive to TF), so it's possible you'd see Ermenegildo Zegna continue to run that side of things.

 

[FancyWaterAddict]

I doubt this will be good for the (already declining?) quality of Tom Ford fragrance releases, but after several years of lackluster releases, discontinuing all of their most interesting fragrances, and their annual -including pre-pandemic- price hikes, I've lost almost all the interest I had in TF anyway. Though I only started my fragrance journey a few years ago, it feels like I came in at the very tail end of a unique and exciting moment in their history, just in time to witness "the end of an era", as it were. But with all this, it feels like it's just time to let TF go and branch out to other more daring and diverse creators who put a bit more love into what they create, and whose culture implies less contempt for the people who support them by purchasing their products.

 

[GoldWineMemories]

I think it's quite clear that after the death of his husband that Tom Ford is no longer the creative director behind the Tom Ford scents. Compare Noir de Noir, Tuscan Leather, and Tobacco Vanille to Lost Cherry, Bitter Peach, and Tuberose Nue... Don't really care where the brand goes from here.