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History In 1907,Eugène Schueller , a youngFrench chemist, developed a hair dye formula called Auréole .Schueller formulated and manufactured his own products, which he then sold toParisianhairdressers.In 1909, Schueller registered his company, the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux ( Safe Hair Dye Company of France literally French Society for Inoffensive Hair Dyes ),the srcinal L¶Oréal. The guiding principles of the company, which eventually became L¶Oréal, wereresearch and innovation in the field of beauty.In 1920, the small company employed three chemists. By 1950, the research teams were 100 strong;that number reached 1,000 by 1984 and is nearly 2,000 today.L¶Oréal got its start in the hair-color business, but the company soon branched out into other cleansing and beauty products. L¶Oréal currently markets over 500 brands and many thousands of individual products in all sectors of the beauty business: hair color, permanents, hair styling, body andskin care, cleansers, makeup and fragrances. The company's products are found in a wide variety of distribution channels, from hair salons and perfumeries to hyper - and supermarkets, health/beautyoutlets, pharmacies and direct mail.L¶Oréal has five worldwideresearch and developmentcenters: two in France: AulnayandChevilly; one in theU.S.:Clark,New Jersey; one inJapan:Kawasaki,Kanagawa Prefecture; and in 2005, one was established inShanghai,China. A future facility in the US will be inBerkeley Heights, New Jersey.From 1988 to 1989, L'Oréal controlled the film company Paravision, whose properties includedtheFilmationandDe Laurentiislibraries.StudioCanalacquired the Paravision properties in 1994. L¶Oréal purchased Synthélabo in 1973 to pursue its ambitions in the pharmaceutical field. Synthélabomerged withSanofiin 1999 to becomeSanofi-Synthélabo. Sanofi-Synthélabo merged with Aventisin 2004 to becomeSanofi-Aventis.On 17 March 2006, L'Oréal purchased cosmetics companyThe Body Shopfor £652 million. The company has recently faced discrimination lawsuits in France related to the hiring of spokesmodels andInstitutional racism. In the UK, L'Oréal has faced widespread condemnationfromOFCOMregarding truth in their advertising and marketing campaigns concerning the productperformance of one of their mascara brands. A book by Monica Waitzfelder, published in French as L'O réal a pris ma maison and in Englishas L'O réal stole my house! , details how L'Oréal, a company claimed to beanti-Semiticby the author,took over the Waitzfelder home in the German city of Karlsruhe(after the Nazis had engineered theremoval of the family) to make it its German headquarters. [ citation needed ] L'Oréa l 's f amous adver ti s i ¡ s l ogan i s ¢ B ecause I 'm £ or t ¤ it ¢ . I n t ¤ e m i d ¥¦¦¦ s , t ¤ i s £ as rep l aced § ¨ ¢ B ecause ¨ ou're £ or t ¤ it ¢ . I n l a t e ¥¦¦ © , t ¤ e s l ogan £ as changed aga i n t o ¢ B ecause £ e're £ or t h it ¢ f o ll ow i ng mo ti va ti on ana l ¨ s i s and work i n t o consumer psycho l ogy o f r . ax i m it orenko . he sh ift t o ¢ we was made t o crea t e s t ronger consumer i nvo l vemen t i n L'Oréa l ph il osophy and lif es t y l e and prov i de more consumer sa ti s f ac ti on w it h L'Oréa l produc t s . L'Oréa l a l so owns a a i r and B ody produc t s li ne f or k i ds ca ll ed L'Oréa l Ki ds , t he s l ogan f or wh i ch i s B ecause we're wor t h it t oo .P ro t es t group a t urewa t ch con ti nues t o a ll ege t ha t L'Oréa l con ti nues t o t es t new i ngred i en t s on an i ma l s . [ ] he company s t a t es t ha t no an i ma l t es ti ng has t aken p l ace s i nce © © and t ha t L'Orea l has i nves t ed s i gn ifi can tl y i n a lt erna ti ve me t hods f or chem i ca l sa f e t y t es ti ng . [ ] o ll ow i ng L'Oréa l 's purchase o f he B ody S hop , who con ti nue t o § e aga i ns t an i ma l t es ti ng , he B ody S hop f ounder ame A n it a R odd i ck was f orced t o de f end herse lf aga i ns t a ll ega ti ons o f abandon i ng her pr i nc i p l es over L'Oréa l 's t rack record on an i ma l t es ti ng . S he dec l ared t ha t her be li e f i n t he power o f cosme ti cs t o enhance f ema l e beau t y was grea t er t han any concern over an i ma l t es ti ng . A s a resu lt, ca ll s were made f or shoppers t o boyco tt he B ody S hop . [ ] I n © ! , L'Oréa l and S u i sses f ounded Le # l ub des # réa t eurs de B eau t é spec i a li $ i ng i n ma il order sa l es o f cosme ti c produc t s .[ ed it ] B us i ness L'Oréa l P ar i s ha i r ge l. % o t e t he Pi e t & ondr i an-esque des i gn . [ ed it ] Corporate g overnance [ ed it] B oard of d i rectors # urren t members o f t he board o f d i rec t ors o f L¶Oréa l are : ' ean- P au l A gon , ranc i sco B asco , ( erner B auer , L ili ane B e tt encour t, ranço i se B e tt encour t eyers ,P e t er B rabeck-Le t ma t he , # har l es-Henr i ili pp i, X av i er on t ane t, B ernard K asr i e l, arc Lacharr i ) re , ' ean- Pi erre eyers , L i ndsay Owen-Jones , ranck Ri boud , A nne tt e R oux and Lou i s S chwe it $ er .[ ed it] M ana g ement comm i ttee The management committee includes: Jean-Paul Agon, Chief Executive Officer Frederic 0 oze, Chief Executive Officer, L¶Oréal USA Béatrice Dautresme, EVP of Corporate Communications Jean-François Grollier, EVP of 0 esearch and Development Christian Mulliez,EVPof Finances Jean-Jacques Lebel,Presidentof Consumer Products Nicolas Hieronimus, President of Professional Products Geoff Skingsley, EVP of Human 0 esources Marc Menesguen, President of Luxury Products[edit] Stockholders As at year end 2009: [1] Breakdown of share ownership: 31.0% by theBettencourtfamily, 29.8% by Nestlé, 2.4% treasuryshares, and the remaining 36.8% is publicly traded.[edit] Sales, profits, etc. In 2003, L¶Oréal announced its 19th consecutive year of double-digit growth. Its consolidated saleswas ¼14.029 bn and net profit was ¼1.653 bn. 96.7% of sales derived from cosmetic activities and2.5% from dermatological activities. L¶Oréal has operations in over 130 countries, employing 50,500people, 24% of which work in France. 3.3% of consolidated sales is invested in research anddevelopment, which accounts for 2,900 of its employees. In 2003, it applied for 515 patents. Itoperates 42manufacturingplants throughout the world, which employ 14,000 people. Cosmetics sales by division breakdown: 54.8% from consumer products at ¼7.506 bn, 25.1%from luxury products at ¼3.441 bn, 13.9% from professional products at ¼1.9 bn, and 5.5% fromactive cosmetics at ¼0.749 bn. Cosmetic sales by geographic zone breakdown: 52.7% fromWestern Europeat ¼7.221 bn,27.6% fromNorth Americaat ¼3.784 bn, 19.7% from rest of the world at ¼2.699 bn.In 2007, L¶Oréal was ranked 353 in theFortune Global 500. [7] The company had earned $2,585million on sales of $19,811 million. There were 60,850 employees. [7] [edit ] J oint ventures and m inority interests L¶Oréal holds 10.41% of the shares of Sanofi-Aventis, the world's number 3 and Europe's number 1pharmaceutical company. The Laboratoires Innéov is a joint venturein nutritional cosmeticsbetween L¶Oréal and Nestlé; they draw on L¶Oréal's knowledge in the fields of nutritionandfood safety. Galderma is another joint venture in dermatology between L'Oréal and Nestlé. [edit] Co mm unity involve m ent and awards In 2008, L'Oréal was named Europe's top business employer by The European StudentBarometer, [8] a survey conducted byTrendencethat covers 20 European countries and incorporatesthe responses of over 91,000 students.TheL'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Sciencewas established to improve the position of women in science by recognizing outstanding women researchers who have contributed to scientificprogress.The awards are a result of a partnership between the French cosmetics company L'Oréal and theUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and carry a grant of $100,000 USD for each laureate. [1]The same partnership awards the UNESCO-L'Oréal International Fellowships, providing up to$40,000 USD in funding over two years to fifteen young women scientists engaged in exemplary andpromising research projects. [9] [edit ] Claims of racial discrimination in advertising, and other litigation On August 11, 2005, theSupreme Court of Californiaruled that former L'Oréal sales manager ElyseYanowitz had adequately pleaded a cause of action for retaliatory termination under theCaliforniaFair Employment and Housing Act, and remanded the case for trial. [10] The case arose out of a 1997incident in which Jack Wiswall, then the general manager for designer fragrances, allegedly toldYanowitz to fire adark-skinnedsales associate despite the associate's good performance. WhenYanowitz refused, Wiswall pointed to a sexy blonde-haired woman and said, God damn it, get meone that looks like that. Wiswall retired as president of the luxury products division of L'Oréal USA atthe end of 2006.In May 2007, L'Oréal was one of several cosmetic manufacturers ordered by theTherapeutic Goods Administrationin Australia to withdraw advertising regarding thewrinkleremoval capabilities of their products. [11] In July 2007, the Garnier division and an external employment agency were fined ¼30,000 for recruitment practices that intentionally excluded non-white women from promoting its shampoo, Fructis Style . [12] L'Oréal is reported as saying the decision was incomprehensible , [13] and wouldchallenge the measure in court.In July 2007, the British Advertising Standards Authorityattacked L'Oréal for a television advert on its³Telescopic´mascara, featuringPenélope Cruz, stating it will make your eyelashes60% longer. In fact, it only made the lashes look 60% bigger, by separating and thickening at the roots and bythickening the tips of the lashes. They also failed to state that the model was wearingfalseeyelashes. [14] [edit ] Brands
