French beauty giant L’Oreal continues to assert itself as the Roman Empire of the beauty industry: in a move that will further expand market control over its consumer goods division, Bloomberg reports that L’Oreal has agreed to acquire LA-based makeup company, NYX.
Many beauty enthusiasts are already familiar with NYX thanks to their Soft Matte Lip Cream and their innovative eye liner, The Curve. I’m personally crazy in love with their Rouge Cream Blush, and you probably have a favorite NYX product too. The marriage of good quality and drugstore prices is what keeps drawing people to the low-cost makeup brand, and why L’Oreal wants to add it to their portfolio.
At the time of writing, there are no reports of how much the exact sale is worth, but it probably amounts to more than the reported sales made by NYX in the period of Jan – May 2014 (USD $93 million). Part of the Bloomberg report states that the sale was made in part to counter acquisitions made by rival cosmetics conglomerates Henkel AG (parent company of Diadermine, Schwarzkopf, Syoss, and more) and Kose (parent company of Anna Sui, Paul & Joe, Addiction, Rimmel, and more). It also states that it was done to help L’Oreal recoup North American losses, after an unimpressive show by The Body Shop and a sluggish second-quarter overall.
L’Oreal stated that operations will continue to run out NYX’s Los Angeles headquarters. Let’s also hope that the change doesn’t interrupt the production groove that NYX has settled on, and that they continue producing the great quality, low-cost makeup that we’ve come to love so much.
What do you think of this acquisition? Do ownership changes of a makeup brand you are loyal to affect your purchases? Let us know in the comments below.
