Thirsty Insights

Battle Of The Celebrity-Backed $1B Acquisitions

Last week, e.l.f. Beauty released unusually detailed financials around their acquisition of Hailey Bieber's Rhode beauty brand.

Why is a beverage newsletter talking about skincare? Two reasons:

• The similarities to Casamigos are striking. Both brands were approximately 3 years old at acquisition, and both sold for nearly identical amounts ($700-800M upfront + earnouts totaling $1B).
• If celebrities love launching tequila brands, they really love launching beauty brands. We couldn't resist comparing them.

Want to see a comparison? Take a look:

Key Takeaway

For experienced Bev Alc professionals, Rhode's profitability will appear insane. It is extraordinary for a 3-year-old, sub-scale brand to generate 34% operating margins, over double Casamigos' profitability (which is impressive for an emerging beverage alcohol brand in its own right).

The celebrity calculus is clear: Beauty's enhanced margins mean fewer funding rounds and an earlier path to self-funded growth, even at meteoric rates. No wonder every A-lister has a skincare line.