The Beauty Merger That Almost Remade the Industry, And Why It Fell Apart

of L’Oréal in the prestige segment. The strategic case had genuine logic. Puig’s fragrance strength and European heritage would complement Estée Lauder’s skincare dominance and U.S. distribution muscle. Puig’s explosive APAC growth (21.7% like-for-like in 2025) aligned with Estée Lauder’s own China ambitions.

Both companies are family-controlled, which, in theory, should make governance alignment easier.

Estée Lauder Puig Annual Revenue (approx.) ~$14.3B ~€4.4B (record FY2025) Key Categories Skincare, Makeup Fragrance, Makeup Flagship Brands La Mer, MAC, Tom Ford Beauty, Jo Malone Charlotte Tilbury, Carolina Herrera, Byredo Largest Region Americas EMEA (55% of revenue) APAC Growth (2025) Double-digit China growth +21.7% LFL Control Structure Lauder family Puig family Combined entity would have been the world’s largest premium beauty group by revenue Why It Collapsed Three forces killed the deal, and they compounded each other.

First: Charlotte Tilbury. Bloomberg reported that a change-of-control clause embedded in Tilbury’s 2020 sale agreement to Puig created a financial complication that could not be resolved. Tilbury retains a 21.5% stake in her eponymous brand, with Puig…