Hailey Bieber's Rhode acquired for $1 billion
See the details here.
*Free extra story for today since it’s a topic I’ve been following for awhile now.
Hailey Bieber’s Rhode beauty company is set to be acquired for $1 billion by E.l.f. Beauty, according to WWD. Rumors of Rhode looking for investors and potentially selling the company began in April, 2025.
The brand broke into both the makeup and skincare world— becoming the go-to products of people of all ages since launching in 2022. It was reported that investment bankers at JPMorgan, Chase, and Moelis showed interest in helping the brand explore deal options. Since then, the price tag has always been (reportedly) around the $1 billion mark.
On May 28, E.l.f. Beauty and Rhode has reached an agreement to acquire Bieber’s brand for the steep price. In an interview with WWD, the beauty brand founder said that E.l.f. supports founders and “they want to help push the founders’ vision and get behind them.” She added, “That’s where we are with Rhode, and I’m ready to get to the next place.”
“This is my baby, and to find a home for it is really not an easy process — it’s very scary,” Bieber said. “When I met the E.l.f. team, we had a lot of similarities when it came to the importance of community and team building.”
According to WWD, this is the biggest deal E.l.f. has done. The deal also consists of $800 million in cash and stock payable at closing. In addition to this, there will be a potential earnout consideration of $200 million depending on how well the brand does in the next three years. WWD also states that E.l.f. secured $600 million in debt financing.
“E.l.f. Beauty is on fire, and it was a desire to fuel that fire with the acquisition of Rhode,” E.l.f. chairman and chief executive officer Tarang Amin explained to WWD. “In less than three years, going from zero to $212 million of net sales, direct-to-consumer only, with just 10 products — I would never believe that if somebody told me.”
He added, “The momentum and everything that Hailey has fits our ethos as a company, of wanting to invite her into our family and her entire team and be able to transform the beauty industry.”
I’ve already seen speculation on Bieber’s involvement with Rhode following once the deal is sealed. However, WWD says that she’ll serve as Rhode’s chief creative officer and head of innovation going forward. In this position, she will oversee creative, product innovation as well as marketing. She will also act as a strategic adviser.
“I want to continue to push innovation — innovative products, innovative marketing, and I know they’ll be able to continue helping us,” Bieber said to the pub.
In April, I wrote about how Rhode has seen around $200 million in sales since launching. The issue many investors had with the brand was that the products were only available online. This made them “too risk-averse.” However, Rhode fixed that problem and announced just last week that they were breaking into Sephora.
“we’re beyond excited to share that rhode’s collection of curated skincare and hybrid makeup is coming to Sephora this fall. from day one, it’s been our dream to bring efficacious, intentional skincare and beauty essentials to as many people as possible. we’re so happy to be partnering with Sephora to help us bring the world of rhode to more people and expand our global community,” the brand wrote on Instagram.
A source previously noted how Rhode, while successful, may not be at the same level of other celeb-founded brands such as Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty, Makeup by Mario and Merit by Katherine Power. “Nobody paid $1 billion for Rare Beauty, nobody paid $1 billion for Makeup by Mario. Why would they pay that for Rhode? It doesn't even have distribution,” they told WWD.
Another insider said that companies like Rhode are too risky for potential buyers due to being “too young.” They continued, “The brand has approached the scale where the universe of potential buyers is getting smaller and smaller. And Makeup by Mario, Rare Beauty and Rhode are too young, too big, too dependent on their founders - there's too much risk. The buyers that are relevant are exactly the buyers that wouldn't touch this.”
I guess we’ll see how this goes!
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