Edgewell Personal Care has acquired female personal care brand Billie in a $310 million all-cash transaction. The transaction has cleared under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and has closed.
WHO: Billie was launched in 2017 by co-founders Georgina Gooley and Jason Bravman as a female-focused shaving subscription service without the "Pink Tax." The fast-growing, digitally native, direct-to-consumer brand has a current product portfolio that includes razors, shaving cream, makeup wipes, body lotion, lip balms, dry shampoo, and body wash.
Edgewell is a leading pure-play consumer products company with an attractive, diversified portfolio of established brand names such as Schick and Wilkinson Sword men's and women's shaving systems and disposable razors; Edge and Skintimate shave preparations; Playtex, Stayfree, Carefree, and o.b. feminine care products; Banana Boat, Hawaiian Tropic, Bulldog, Jack Black, and CREMO sun and skin care products; and Wet Ones moist wipes. The company has a broad global footprint and operates in more than 50 markets, including the US, Canada, Mexico, Germany, Japan, the UK, and Australia, with approximately 5,800 employees worldwide.
WHY: The Billie brand complements and strengthens Edgewell's position in the women's shaving category, by adding to a portfolio of strong brands such as Schick Intuition, Hydro Silk and Skintimate.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Rod Little, Edgewell President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are thrilled to add Billie to our portfolio of brands. We are focused on our stated goal of building on our leading position in the women's shave category and executing on our M&A strategy with discipline and precision, both of which this acquisition accomplishes. Edgewell has been a strategic supplier to Billie since its inception, and we view this acquisition as a natural evolution of the partnership between our two companies. This acquisition immediately enhances the consumer-centric, digital capabilities of our organization and elevates our presence in the important mid-tier value segment of women's shaving in the US, while bolstering Billie's ability to capitalize on significant growth opportunities by leveraging our retail distribution platform and marketing channels. Additionally, the acquisition provides us with a unique opportunity to further broaden Billie's reach beyond razors and blades."
Jason Bravman, co-founder of Billie, said, "We are very excited to join the Edgewell organization and look forward to combining our resources and leveraging the Edgewell platform to accelerate growth and expand our retail reach. As we begin our expansion into brick-and-mortar retail in the US, this is the perfect time for this business combination. Edgewell's core values align with our vision for the brand, and we are looking forward to attaining even greater growth as part of the Edgewell team."
Georgina Gooley, co-founder of Billie, added, "When we started Billie, we set out to create a different kind of razor made for womenkind. We look forward to combining our disruptive and digital-first approach with Edgewell's leading platforms, capabilities and channels to drive future growth and meet the evolving needs of our loyal customers. This is an exciting moment for us as we advance towards our goal of becoming the leading women's lifestyle brand."
TRIBE DYNAMICS EMV: Styling itself as a better bodycare and shaving brand for women, Billie garnered $835.7K EMV in Q4, a 20% quarter-over-quarter increase. The brand saw across-the-board progress in its community metrics, boasting QoQ improvements in influencer potency ($7.7K EMV per content creator, 15% QoQ growth), community size (109 advocates, 5% QoQ growth), and content volume (327 posts, 7% QoQ growth). This momentum stemmed mainly from influencers who hadn’t mentioned Billie in Q3: newcomers accounted for 22 of the brand’s top 25 EMV drivers in Q4, powering a collective $727.6K, or 87% of Billie’s quarterly haul. Most of these incoming content creators, including No. 1 overall earner Laura Beverlin (@laurabeverlin on Instagram; $97.4K EMV), tagged the brand in organic looks or roundups of favorite products.
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