Waldencast Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company, entered into a definitive simultaneous business combination agreement with Obagi and Milk Makeup.
WHO: Founded in 2016, Milk Makeup, known for its cultural relevance and iconic products, is a high-growth, cult-favorite beauty brand among Gen Z consumers and a leader in clean beauty that has grown organically through a diverse and inclusive community. Milk Makeup is built on the promise of clean, cool beauty that works with bestselling hero products at key retailers. The brand values of Good for You, Good for the Planet, and Good for the Community resonate strongly with its passionate community. The brand creates vegan, cruelty-free, clean formulas that are sold through retail partners including Sephora in North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia, and Cult Beauty and Selfridges in the UK.
Waldencast's vision is to build a global best-in-class beauty and wellness operating platform by developing, acquiring, accelerating, and scaling the next generation of conscious, purpose-driven brands. The business will be run by founder Michel Brousset as Chief Executive Officer and Hind Sebti as Chief Operating Officer. Its goal is to become the partner of choice for next-generation brands and consumers by leveraging the collective leadership and the industry-specific operating experience of its management team.
WHY: The approximately $1.2 billion three-way transaction is a first step in Waldencast's strategy to create a global best-in-class multi-brand beauty and wellness platform.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: Jaime Castle, CEO of Obagi, said: "Waldencast's ambition to build a global best-in-class beauty and wellness company that embraces conscious, purpose-driven brands is aligned with Obagi's purpose, vision and values, making Waldencast an ideal fit. I look forward to working with Michel and the team as we continue to develop effective, science-based skin care that includes and embraces the full spectrum of beauty and self-care."
Tim Coolican, CEO of Milk Makeup, remarked: "Our community has always been the heartbeat of our company and Milk Makeup's mission is to celebrate and serve them. We found in Waldencast like-minded partners who share our values and commitment to building a global beauty movement rooted in community, self-expression, inclusion, and social purpose."
Michel Brousset, Waldencast founder and CEO, said: "Partnering with Obagi and Milk Makeup is a major milestone in our ambition to build a best-in-class global multi-brand beauty platform, which will be home for the next generation of high-growth, purpose-driven brands. I greatly admire Obagi and Milk Makeup, both leaders in their respective categories, and I am looking forward to working with Jaime and Tim to further accelerate the growth of their respective brands, while preserving each brand's unique business model. We believe the brands will benefit strongly from the Waldencast ecosystem, bringing operational scale, and attracting best-in-class talent and capabilities."
Waldencast Chairman Felipe Dutra said, "The Board and I are excited about the growth opportunities that this combination can create under the outstanding leadership of Michel, Hind, Tassilo [Tassilo Festetics, CFO/CTO] and the management teams of Obagi and Milk Makeup—who together have world-class beauty expertise with a proven track record. This transaction brings to life the Waldencast dream of building a global best-in-class beauty and wellness multi-brand platform, and I am honored to be a part of this journey."
TRIBE DYNAMICS EMV: While Milk Makeup’s $33.7MM EMV Q4 total marked an 11% quarter- over-quarter decline, the brand’s advocates averaged 4.3 posts each during the time period, a 7% QoQ increase. The popular clean beauty company’s slight drop in EMV stemmed largely from decreased contributions among consistent influencers, who drove a collective $26.5MM in Q4 after powering $30.7MM in Q3. Meanwhile, incoming content creators generated $7.2MM EMV, outpacing the $7.0MM delivered by influencers who mentioned Milk Makeup in Q3 before dropping off during the following quarter. These generative newcomers included beauty gurus like Hayley Bui (@hayley_bui on Instagram) and Christine Abraham (@christineabraham), who organically featured the brand in makeup tutorials, inspiring a respective $221.2K and $185.5K EMV as Milk Makeup’s top-two incoming earners.
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