L'Oreal brand CEOs shift or raise the banner of acquisition

L'Oreal, the world’s number one cosmetic manufacturer, completed the handover of new and old CEOs on Tuesday. After 18 years in the 18th consecutive year and set a record of L'Oreal's 18-year performance growth miracle, Sir Irving Wong will retire as non-executive chairman. The new CEO will be replaced by Jean Paul Agung. L'Oréal will return to "French-led" era.

Argonne, who will be 50 years old in July of this year, spent his entire career at L'Oréal. In 1978, he started at the bottom of the sales staff. After only three years, he became the head of the company's Greek business at the age of 25, after which Agung took a step forward in L'Oréal, successively in Germany, Asia and the United States. In February last year, Agung returned to France and was appointed as a successor to Irving.

For 21 years in a row, its annual performance has increased by double digits. Last year, its net profit increased by 37% to a record of 1.972 billion euros. It can be said that Owen was created by Owen in one hand. His successful approach is to allow all of L'Oreal's products to infiltrate every market in the world, high-end brands to go to store sales, and Volkswagen's brand to major supermarkets and supermarkets.

However, with the increasingly fierce competition, especially the Procter & Gamble, the biggest rival, pressing harder and harder, and questioning the future of L'Oreal is growing louder and louder. To this end, Argonne is likely to set off a wave of change within the company. Acquisition expansion may become the killer for L'Oréal to maintain its leading position. In fact, this idea appeared as early as the month before Argonne’s uprighting. In March, L'Oréal acquired “Body Shop”, a well-known makeup brand in the UK, for 940 million euros.

In addition, continued focus on sales in emerging markets will also be one of Argonne’s priorities. L'Oreal has laid the foundations in these emerging markets, including the establishment of a subsidiary in China in 1997, and recently launched its R&D center in China in Pudong, Shanghai to develop new products specifically for Asian skin characteristics.