Two deal documents quietly redrew the ownership map of the beauty aisle in 2025. e.l.f. Beauty signed a definitive agreement to acquire rhode, the brand founded by Hailey Bieber, in a transaction valued at $1 billion, and Kering agreed to sell its beauty house, including Creed, to L'Oréal in a deal valued at 4 billion euros. For shoppers, the near-term changes concern ownership and distribution, not formulas. A deal announcement does not set a checkout price.
Both documents came from the companies themselves, dated May 28, 2025 and October 19, 2025, which makes their terms the record to work from. Ownership decides who funds a brand's expansion, who holds its licenses, and which retailer gets the launch. Those are the levers a label reader can actually trace.
Which Deals Moved the Market?
The two agreements differ in shape. One buys a fast-growing independent; the other moves a luxury portfolio and a set of decades-long licenses.
- e.l.f. Beauty agreed to acquire rhode: $800 million payable at closing in cash and stock, plus a potential earnout of $200 million tied to the brand's growth over three years, per e.l.f.'s announcement.
- The purchase price equals roughly 3.8 times rhode's net sales of $212 million for the 12 months ended March 31, 2025, per the same release.
- Kering agreed to sell the House of Creed and grant L'Oréal 50-year exclusive licenses for Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga fragrance and beauty, in a package valued at 4 billion euros payable in cash at closing, per Kering's announcement.
"e.l.f. Beauty found a like-minded disruptor in rhode," said e.l.f. Chairman and CEO Tarang Amin in the release. The cash portion of that deal rests on $600 million of fully committed debt financing, per the same document.
What Happens to a Brand You Follow?
Continuity is the first thing to check, and the documents specify it. Bieber stays on as rhode's founder and adds the roles of Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, per e.l.f.'s release. The same document flagged rhode's first in-store partnership with Sephora across North America and the U.K., planned before the end of the year from the May 2025 announcement.
The Kering side moves on a longer clock. The Gucci license commences after the current license with Coty expires, per Kering's announcement, so no overnight shelf reset follows the signature. L'Oréal will also pay royalties to Kering for the licensed brands, and the deal was expected to close in the first half of 2026. This connects to our earlier piece, Kering's 2025 Results and the Gucci Beauty Shake-Up, Explained.
Do Mergers Change Prices for Shoppers?
Neither announcement lists consumer pricing plans, so the honest answer is that the documents do not say. What they do say is who owns what, how the money moves, and when the licenses start. Pricing is a later, brand-level decision that a deal release neither announces nor forecloses. A shopper who wants a record of price movement is better served by a receipt history than by a press release, which was never written to carry that data.
How Should a Shopper Track a Deal?
- 1. Read the companies' own releases on their investor or press pages. The terms there are the deal, not a rumor.
- 2. Watch license transitions. Gucci fragrance and beauty move to L'Oréal only after the Coty license ends, per Kering's release.
- 3. Watch distribution news. rhode's Sephora rollout was written into e.l.f.'s announcement, dated May 2025.
- 4. Note the closing window. Kering's cash payment was expected in the first half of 2026, so the counter may look normal for quarters after a signature.
Conclusion: What Consolidation Means at the Counter
What changed is the ownership line above brands a shopper already knows, documented in cash figures, earnouts, and 50-year license terms. What stayed is the day-to-day: same products, same shelves, pricing unannounced. The useful habit is reading the primary document when a brand changes hands, because the terms there, from Sephora rollouts to license clocks, are the parts that reach a makeup bag. For related coverage, see What Coty's Leadership Shake-Up Means for Makeup Shoppers.
