The L'Oréal Group is a French cosmetics and beauty company, headquartered in Clichy,

Hauts-de-Seine. It is the world's largest cosmetics company, and has a registered office in Paris.

It has developed activities in the field of cosmetics, concentrating on hair colour, skin care, sun

protection, make-up, perfumes and hair care, the company is active in

the dermatology, toxicology, tissue engineering, and biopharmaceutical research fields and is the

top nanotechnology patent-holder in the United States.

In 1909,  Eugène Schueller, a young French chemist of German descent, developed a hair

dye formula called Auréale. Schueller formulated and manufactured his

own products, which he then sold to Parisian hairdressers. On 31 July

1919, Schueller registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures

Inoffensives pour Cheveux (Safe Hair Dye Company of France). The

guiding principles of the company, which eventually became L’Oréal, were

research and innovation in the field of beauty. In 1920, the company

employed three chemists. By 1950, the teams were 100 strong; that number

reached 1,000 by 1984 and is nearly 2,000 today.

Schueller provided financial support and held meetings for La

Cagoule at L'Oréal headquarters. La Cagoule was a violent French fascist-

leaning and anti-communist group whose leader formed a political party Mouvement Social

Révolutionnaire (MSR, Social Revolutionary Movement) which in Occupied France supported

the Vichy collaboration with the Nazis. L'Oréal hired several members of the group as executives

after World War II, such as Jacques Corrèze, who served as CEO of the United States operation.

This involvement was extensively researched by Michael Bar-Zohar in his book, Bitter Scent.

L’Oréal got its start in the hair-colour business, but the company soon branched out into

other cleansing and beauty products. L’Oréal currently markets over 500 brands and many

thousands of individual products in all sectors of the beauty business: hair colour, permanents,

hair styling, body and skin care, cleansers, makeup and fragrances. The company's products are

found in a wide variety of distribution channels, from hair salons and perfumeries to hyper - and

supermarkets, health/beauty outlets, pharmacies and direct mail.

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L’Oréal has six worldwide research and development centres: two in

France: Aulnay and Chevilly; one in the U.S.: Clark, New Jersey; one

in Japan: Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture; in 2005 one was established in Shanghai, China, and

one in India. A future facility in the US will be in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.

From 1988 to 1989, L’Oréal controlled the film company Paravision, whose properties

included the Filmation and De Laurentiis libraries. StudioCanal acquired the Paravision

properties in 1994.

L’Oréal purchased Synthélabo in 1973 to pursue its ambitions in the pharmaceutical

field. Synthélabo merged with Sanofi in 1999 to become Sanofi-Synthélabo. Sanofi-Synthélabo

merged with Aventis in 2004 to become Sanofi-Aventis.

On 17 March 2006, L'Oréal purchased cosmetics company The Body Shop for £562

million.

L'Oréal's advertising slogan is "Because I'm worth it". In the mid 2000s, this was

replaced by "Because you're worth it". In late 2009, the slogan was changed again to "Because

we're worth it" following motivation analysis and work into consumer psychology of Dr. Maxim

Titorenko. The shift to "we" was made to create stronger consumer involvement in L'Oréal

philosophy and lifestyle and provide more consumer satisfaction with L'Oréal products. L'Oréal

also owns a Hair and Body products line for kids called L'Oréal Kids, the slogan for which is

"Because we're worth it too".

In 1987, during the growth years of the mail order business, L'Oréal and 3

Suisses founded Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté for mail-order sales of cosmetic products, with

brands including Agnès b., Cosmence and Professeur Christine Poelman among others. In March

2008, L'Oréal acquired 3 Suisse's stake, taking sole control of the company. In November 2013,

L'Oréal announced that Le Club des Créateurs de Beauté would cease activity in the first half of

2014.

In November 2012, L'Oréal inaugurated the largest factory in the Jababeka Industrial

Park, Cikarang, Indonesia, with a total investment of USD$100 million. [8] The production will be

absorbed 25 percent by domestic market and the rest will be exported. In 2010, significant

growth occurred at Indonesia with 61 percent increase of unit sales or 28 percent of net sales.

In January 2014, L’Oréal finalised the acquisition of major Chinese beauty brand Magic

Holidings for $840 million.

On 11 February 2014 it was announced that L'Oreal had sealed a deal worth €3.4bn to

buy back 8% of its shares from Swiss consumer goods giant Nestle. As a result of the deal,

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Nestle’s stake in L’Oreal will be reduced from 29.4pc to 23.29pc while the Bettencourt Meyers

family’s stake will increase from 30.6pc to 33.2pc. Nestle has owned a stake in L’Oreal since

1974 when it bought into the company at the request of Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of the

founder of L’Oreal and world's richest woman, who was trying to prevent the French state's

intervention in the company.

On 20 February 2014, Shiseido agreed to sell its Carita and Decléor brands to L’Oréal for

€227.5 million (USD$312.93 million (2014)).

On 18 June 2014, L'Oréal agreed to acquire NYX Cosmetics for an undisclosed price,

bolstering its makeup offer in North America where its consumer-products unit has faltered.

In September 2014, L’Oréal announced it had agreed to purchase Brazilian hair care

company Niely Cosmeticos Group for an undisclosed amount.

Brands are generally categorized by their targeted markets, such as the mass,

professional, luxury, and active cosmetics markets. The Body Shop and Galderma are directly

attached to the head office. L'Oréal also owns interests in various activities such as fine

chemicals, health, finance, design, advertising, insurance.

Professional products

L'Oréal TechniqueL'Oréal Professionnel, including ARTec and InnateKérastase (created by L'Oreal in 1964)Kéraskin Esthetics, created by L'Oreal in 2007 and specializing in skin care professionals.Matrix Essentials, founded by Arnie Miller in 1980 and acquired by L'Oreal in 2000.Mizani, founded in 1991 and bought by L'Oreal in 2001.PureOlogy Research, founded in 2001 and acquired by L'Oreal in 2007.Redken 5th Avenue NYC, founded by Paula Kent and Jheri Redding in 1960 and acquired by L'Oreal in 1993.Shu Uemura Art of Hair

L'Oreal Luxe3

LancômeYSLGiorgio ArmaniBiothermCacharelDieselMaison Martin MargielaRalph LaurenKiehl'sThe Body ShopShu UemuraStella McCartneyClarisonicPaloma PicassoDrakkar noirUrban DecayYue SaiHelena RubinsteinEM Michelle PhanDecléor

Consumer products

L’Oréal ParisOmbrelleGarnierMaybellineSoftSheen-CarsonCréateurs de BeautéEssieMagic

Active cosmetics

VichyLa Roche PosayInneovSkinceuticalsRoger&GalletSanofloreDermablend

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EM Michelle Phan

Board of directorsCurrent members of the board of directors of L’Oréal are:

Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEOJean-Pierre Meyers, Vice-Chairman of the Board of DirectorsPeter Brabeck-Letmathe, Vice-Chairman of the Board of DirectorsFrançoise Bettencourt Meyers, DirectorPaul Bulcke, DirectorCharles-Henri Filippi, DirectorXavier Fontanet, DirectorBernard Kasriel, DirectorChristiane Kuehne, DirectorMarc Ladreit de Lacharrière, DirectorJean-Victor Meyers, DirectorVirginie Morgon, DirectorAnnette Roux, DirectorLouis Schweitzer, Director

Management committeeThe management committee includes:

Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and Chief Executive OfficerLaurent Attal, EVP Research and InnovationJean-Philippe Blanpain, EVP OperationsNicolas Hieronimus, President Selective DivisionsBrigitte Liberman, President Cosmetic Active divisionMarc Menesguen, President Consumer Products DivisionChristian Mulliez, EVP Administration and FinancesAlexis Perakis-Valat, EVP Asia Pacific ZoneAlexandre Popoff, EVP Eastern Europe ZoneSara Ravella, EVP Communication, Sustainability and Public AffairsFrederic Rozé, EVP of the Americas ZoneGeoff Skingsley, EVP Africa - Middle East ZoneAn Verhulst-Santos, President Professional Products Division

Jérôme Tixier, EVP Human Resources and Advisor to the ChairmanJohen Zaumsel, EVP Western Europe Zone

As at year end 2013:

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Breakdown of share ownership: 33.31% by the Bettencourt family, 23.29% by Nestlé, 21.8%

by international institutional investors, 9.3% by French institutional investors, 5,7% by

individual shareholders, 1.9% treasury stock and 0.7% by employees.

In 2003, L’Oréal announced its 19th consecutive year of double-digit growth. Its

consolidated sales was €14.029 bn and net profit was €1.653 bn. 96.7% of sales derived from

cosmetic activities and 2.5% from dermatological activities. L’Oréal has operations in over 130

countries, employing 50,500 people, 24% of which work in France. 3.3% of consolidated sales is

invested in research and development, which accounts for 2,900 of its employees. In 2003, it

applied for 515 patents. It operates 42 manufacturing plants throughout the world, which employ

14,000 people.

Cosmetics sales by division breakdown: 54.8% from consumer products at €7.506 bn, 25.1%

from luxury products at €3.441 bn, 13.9% from professional products at €1.9 bn, and 5.5%

from active cosmetics at €0.749 bn.

Cosmetic sales by geographic zone breakdown: 52.7% from Western Europe at €7.221 bn,

27.6% from North America at €3.784 bn, 19.7% from rest of the world at €2.699 bn.

In 2007, L’Oréal was ranked 353 in the Fortune Global 500. The company had earned $2,585

million on sales of $19,811 million. There were 60,850 employees.

Since the 80's, L’Oréal has invested €900 million in researching alternatives to animal testing for

product

safety,

using

methods

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such as reconstructed skin models, like the Episkin model[23] at their research centers in Gerland,

France, and Pudong, China.

Nevertheless, this is complicated by markets such as China, where animal testing of all

cosmetics for human use is obligatory.Cosmetics by brands such as The Body Shop, which refuses

to do animal tests, are thus not available on the Chinese market.

In 2013, L’Oréal was part of a consortium calling on the EU to invest more in research on

alternatives to animal testing.

In 2014, L'Oreal was listed 61st among 1200 of India's most trusted brands according to

the Brand Trust Report 2014, a study conducted by Trust Research Advisory, a brand analytics

company.

In 2008, L'Oréal was named Europe's top

business employer by The European Student

Barometer,a survey conducted by Trendence that

covers 20 European countries and incorporates the

responses of over 91,000 students.

The L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in

Science was established to improve the position of

women in science by recognizing outstanding women

researchers who have contributed to scientific progress.

The awards are a result of a partnership between the French cosmetics company

L'Oréal and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and

carry a grant of $100,000 USD for each laureate.

The same partnership awards the UNESCO-L'Oréal International Fellowships, providing

up to $40,000 USD in funding over two years to fifteen young women scientists engaged in

exemplary and promising research projects.

L'Oréal organises every year the L'Oréal Brandstorm, an acknowledged business game

for students in 43 countries. The game is related to marketing and has a first prize of $10,000, a

second prize of $5,000 and a third prize of $2500.

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L'Oréal is also involved in the "Look Good...Feel Better"- project which is a Beauty

Industry Charity which was formed over 16 years ago to help woman combat the visible side

effects of their cancer treatment of which L'Oréal is a founder member.

“The L’Oréal Paris icons are among the most beautiful women in the world. I am very

honoured to be joining this family. The “Because I’m worth it” tagline means a lot to me. Beauty is not skin-deep; it can be a means of self-affirmation, a true indicator of personality and confidence", says Aimee Mullins.

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"I'm excited to work with a brand that consistently offers a wide range of superior products that are attainable for women everywhere.", says Jennifer Lopez.

“Every woman has the right to feel beautiful.”, says Cheryl.

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“I

have always believed that you have to be confident in yourself. Anything can happen if you really work at it. Never give up.", says Karlie Kloss.

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“I don’t regret anything in life. I always move on.", says Eva Longoria.

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