Beauty Inc. Top 100 2014

Call it a year of mostly ups and some downs: In 2014, 77 percent of the world’s leading beauty companies—including number one, L’Oréal—posted sales gains. But one look at the WWD Beauty Inc Top 100, our annual ranking of the world’s biggest beauty companies, shows that some key players faced significant challenges. Not least of these was caused by currency fluctuations, which had a significant impact on many firms. For example, with the exception of the big three (Shiseido, Kao and Kosé), Japanese companies all dropped a few places in the ranking, while certain European companies, particularly those with large businesses in countries plagued by political and economic instability, like Russia and Italy, lagged, too. Conversely, no surprise that South Korean firms all climbed up the rankings, in large part thanks to brisk international business, particularly in China. In terms of categories, companies with exposure to the professional hair-care channel generally continued to see their sales affected by the weakness in that segment. One notable trend in 2014 was the acceleration in acquisition activity by the leading players—L’Oréal and the Estée Lauder Cos., but also Coty, with its surprise agreement to buy Bourjois from Chanel. With the exception of L’Oréal’s purchase of

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