P&G launched the first major group acquisition in 2023

Recently, P&G announced the acquisition of the black hair care brand Mielle Organics.

This is the first acquisition by a foreign giant in 2023, and the amount of acquisition is not disclosed.

The acquisition has yet to be approved by the regulatory authorities. Mielle Organics will operate as an independent subsidiary of P&G, and the two founders will still serve as CEO and COO respectively.

Mielle Organics was founded in 2014. Its co-founder and CEO, Monique Rodriguez, is a black female KOL who is very active in social media. She was a nurse with a medical and health care background. With her entrepreneurial experience, beauty solutions and value statement, she created her own and brand social influence.

Mielle Organics has 10 product lines, including a series of hair care, skin care and other personal care products developed for adults and children, with the selling point of natural ingredients. At present, Mielle Organics has sold in more than 87 countries and regions around the world with more than 100000 outlets.

Before being acquired by P&G, Mielle Organics had experienced a period of strong growth, and its rosemary mint scalp essence oil had recently achieved great success on TikTok.

In 2021, the company received a large amount of investment. Monique Rodriguez also became the first black woman to raise nine figures of non-controlling investment in the transaction with the company.

Although it did not directly say that the audience was black on its official website, its founder, company executives and even brand models used a large number of black people. In the hearts of many black women, this is a high-quality brand loyal to specific groups.

Monique Rodriguez said: "This is an extraordinary moment for brands and black entrepreneurs, because we will continue to break the skin color barrier and accelerate growth together." She also said that joining P&G will bring more resources to the brand, so that Mielle Organics can continue to innovate rapidly and better return to the society.

According to P&G's 2022 financial report, the beauty section became the business with the largest decline in the fourth quarter, with net sales down 1% and net income down 18% year on year. In October last year, P&G released its Q1 financial report for the 2023 fiscal year, which showed that P&G's net profit during the financial reporting period fell by 4% year-on-year; The organic sales of beauty cosmetics increased by 4% year on year, and the performance of high-end beauty cosmetics SK-II, which the group is proud of, declined.

It is obvious that P&G wants to expand the existing hair washing and care matrix, and to use Mielle Organics to widely influence the black community, strengthen its marketing highlights and fill the expression of values.

In recent years, P&G has made three moves in the high-end field. After acquiring TULA, FARMACY and OUAI, it has created a new professional beauty department. The brands under the new professional beauty department also include the three brands recently acquired by P&G and the First Aid Beauty acquired in 2018. In addition to SK-II's North American business, it also further covers the brands incubated within P&G, including SeeMe Beauty, a brand specially designed for women over 50 years old, and KeepItAnchored, a hair loss prevention brand.

However, with the rise of social media and Gen Z, how to make old bottles of new wine and obtain more and younger consumers has become the top priority of P&G.

Black hair care is a huge and growing market in the beauty industry, but there are not many products designed specifically for this group of hair characteristics like Mielle Organics.

Lela Coffey, vice president of P&G's multicultural hairdressing business, said in a statement that P&G will cooperate with Mielle Organics to expand the use of the brand in the black community, and support the research and innovation of hair care for minority groups.

As part of the new partnership, P&G and Mielle Organizations will respectively donate US $10 million (about 67.33 million yuan) to Mielle Cares, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving education and employment opportunities for black and brown communities.