Cosmetics company E.l.f acquires Hailey Bieber's Rhode beauty brand for $1 billion

Key Points

• E.l.f. Beauty has agreed to acquire Hailey Bieber’s Rhode skincare brand for $1 billion.
• The deal comprises $600 million in cash, $200 million in newly issued E.l.f. shares and up to $200 million in performance-based earnouts over three years.
• Rhode generated $212 million in net sales over the past 12 months and is online-only, but will launch an in-store partnership with Sephora in North America and the U.K. by year-end.
• Hailey Bieber will become Rhode’s chief creative officer, head of innovation and a strategic advisor to the combined companies.

NEW YORK (AP) — E.l.f. Beauty has acquired Hailey Bieber's Rhode skincare brand in a $1 billion deal, the companies said.

Bieber's Rhode had $212 million in net sales in the 12 months that ended March 31. The company's products are only available online, but by the end of this year it plans to begin an in-store partnership with Sephora in North America and the U.K.

Bieber, 28, a model and the wife of singer Justin Bieber, will be Rhode’s chief creative officer and head of innovation and also a strategic adviser to the combined companies.

She launched Rhode, which is her middle name, as a skin care line in June 2022 and has since expanded the brand to include blushes, colored lip balms and lip liners.

The brand is popular with young consumers and other fans of Bieber's fresh-faced, casual aesthetic, which has emerged as an alternative to the ultra-glam, heavily made up looks popularized by Kim Kardashian a decade ago.

Under the terms of the agreement, E.l.f. will acquire Rhode for $600 million in cash and $200 million of newly issued shares of E.l.f. Beauty common stock. The deal also includes a potential payment of $200 million based on the future growth of the brand over three years.

E.l.f., which stands for “eyes, lips and face,” started in 2004 as an affordable makeup brand whose products initially were sold only online. It expanded into retail stores like Target and grew further in step with social media trends highlighting less expensive versions of high-end products.

The company, based in Oakland, California, reported Wednesday that net global sales increased 28% to $1.3 billion during its fiscal year that ended in March. “Due to the wide range of potential outcomes related to tariffs,” it said it would not provide financial guidance for the current year.

E.l.f.'s sourcing policy says most of its products are made by suppliers in China, whose goods were subject to a 145% tariff for over a month before President Donald Trump lowered the rate to 30%. On Wednesday, the brand advised followers on X that it planned a $1 price increase starting Aug. 1 but was “keeping an eye on the tariff situation as it evolves.”

Like Bieber's Rhode, E.l.f. says its products all are vegan and not tested on animals before reaching consumers. Both brands are style their names with the first letter not capitalized.

“e.l.f. Beauty found a like-minded disruptor in rhode,” Chairman and CEO Tarang Amin said in a statement. “We are excited by rhode’s ability to break beauty barriers, fully aligning with e.l.f. Beauty’s vision to create a different kind of company."

E.l.f. also owns beauty brand Well People, skin care brand Naturium and Keys Soulcare, a skin care line created by singer-songwriter Alicia Keys.