In beauty, one of the biggest stories of the year was leadership upheaval, with a number of prominent chief executive officers stepping down across the globe.
The most talked about change in the industry took place at The Estée Lauder Cos., where after months of speculation Fabrizio Freda revealed his retirement from the company, whose recent struggles have been well documented.
The race to be his successor was thought to be between Lauder executives Stephane de La Faverie and Jane Lauder, and was decided in October when the former was named CEO.
De La Faverie will take over on Jan. 1, about six months earlier than Freda’s previously set retirement date.
Just before the official announcement came, Jane Lauder said she would step down from her role as chief data officer and executive vice president, enterprise marketing, at the end of this year. She will remain an active member of the board of the company, which was founded by her grandmother, Estée Lauder, in 1946.
Days later, her cousin William P. Lauder also revealed his impending departure as executive chairman, focusing solely on his role as chair of the board. This will mark the first time since the company’s inception 75 years ago that it will not have a family member actively involved in day-to-day operations.
De La Faverie certainly has his work cut out for him. At presstime, the company’s share price was down around 40 percent year-to-date, while in October the group withdrew its annual forecast as it reported a slump in first quarter 2025 sales due to struggles in Asia and cut its dividend almost in half from 66 cents to 35 cents.
The company blamed worsened consumer sentiment in China for driving further softening in overall prestige beauty in mainland China and low conversion rates in Asia travel retail and Hong Kong. Asia net sales dropped 11 percent.
But Lauder wasn’t the only New York-based beauty company making changes at the top.
Revlon, which also has been hit by tough times, tapped Michelle Peluso as its CEO a year-and-a-half after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a new owner, new board and billions less in debt.
Michelle Peluso
Courtesy
Peluso, who most recently worked as the chief customer and experience officer at CVS Health, takes the reins from Liz Smith, the interim CEO since August 2023. She brings with her key mass retailer experience, vital to Revlon as it needs to win back shelf space.
Over in Paris, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-owned Sephora kicked off 2024 with new president and CEO Guillaume Motte taking over from Chris de Lapuente, who retired.
Guillaume Motte
Thomas Chéné/WWD
Motte’s appointment came at a critical moment for Sephora, the only prestige beauty retailer with a global presence, as it expands geographically and competes head-on with rising, increasingly omnichannel players.
In addition to his CEO role, it seems Motte is rising to new heights within the wider company. It was recently revealed that Motte will be named a member of the LVMH Group executive committee effective Jan 1.
Motte’s elevation hasn’t been the only CEO news at Sephora, though. In April, Artemis Patrick became the first woman CEO to lead the retailer’s North American operations, taking over from Jean-André Rougeot, who retired.
In Tokyo, Shiseido Co. Ltd. will begin 2025 with a new CEO. Masahiko Uotani, longtime chairman and CEO of Shiseido Co. Ltd., will retire at year-end, with Kentaro Fujiwara succeeding him in the position.
Masahiko Uotani
Irwin Wong/WWD
Uotani will stay on as senior adviser for the Shiseido Group and will retire as a company director after the ordinary general meeting of shareholders scheduled for the end of March.
The company’s stock has been negatively impacted this year in part due to Chinese consumers pulling back on Japanese goods after Japan began a controversial discharge of treated wastewater from the disabled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Shiseido reported an operating loss of 2.7 billion yen in the six months ended June 30, versus a profit of 13.63 billion yen in the same prior-year period.
Finally, in London, Unilever named former Pandora executive Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson as CEO of its Prestige division, succeeding Vasiliki Petrou.
Mary Carmen Gasco-Buisson has been named CEO of Unilever’s Prestige division, replacing Vasiliki Petrou.
Courtesy
Gasco-Buisson, a Unilever alumna with a degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University, has more than two decades of experience working in beauty and prestige, including at Procter & Gamble.
It’s an interesting time for Unilever, with sources noting that it is looking to offload Ren and Kate Somerville, part of the consumer giant’s wider efforts to streamline operations, boost profits and deliver more value to shareholders.
