Avon Products

International expansion

Avon Products sells products in over 100 countries. Brazil is the company's largest market, passing the United States in 2010. Avon Products entered the Chinese market in 1990.[18] Direct selling was outlawed in China in 1998, which forced Avon Products to sell only through physical stores called Beauty Boutiques. The ban was lifted in 2001, and the company received a license for direct selling in 2006.[9]

88% of Avon Product's 2013 revenue (around $10 billion) came from overseas markets.

Mergers and acquisitions

Avon Products purchased Silpada, a direct seller of silver jewelry, in 2010 for $650 million.[9] In May 2012, perfume company Coty offered $24.75 a share for Avon, which was nearly 20 percent above Avon's stock price at the time. While Fox Business Network reported that Avon delayed the process and Coty withdrew its offer,[22] earlier reports said that Avon rejected the bid, stating "At the time, the board concluded, and it still believes, that Coty's indication of interest is opportunistic and not in the best interest of Avon's shareholders."[23][24][25]

In March 2016, Cerberus Capital Management paid $435 million in cash for preferred stock in Avon Products. This move was the conclusion of a deal initiated in December 2015, when Avon sold 80.1 percent of its North American Business to Cerberus for $170 million. The total value of the deal was $605 million. The investment resulted in Cerberus having an almost 17 percent stake in Avon Products.[26][27]

In January 2020, Natura & Co closed the acquisition of Avon Products, Inc. At the time, The Natura & Co[28] group also included Natura, Aesop, and The Body Shop, and with the acquisition of Avon had created the world's fourth-largest pure-play beauty company.[29]

Recent history

In 2014, Avon Product's global sales had fallen for five straight years, and its North American revenues fell 18% that year.[30] In March 2015, Avon Products was removed from the S&P 500 after being on it for 50 years.[31]

In 2016, Avon Products completed the separation of its United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico business as New Avon LLC, which also trades with the "Avon" name. As part of a three-year plan, the global Avon Products relocated its headquarters to London in the United Kingdom.[32][33] In July 2018, Avon Products sold its last factory in the United States to the Fareva Group.[34] In August 2019, New Avon LLC, the privately held North American company that split from Avon Products, Inc. (Avon Worldwide) in 2016 entered into a definitive agreement with South Korean consumer goods giant LG Household & Health Care, Ltd., which purchased the direct-selling cosmetics business for $125 million in cash.[35]

Jan Zijderveld was appointed the company's CEO in February 2018.[5] The former CEO, Sherilyn S. McCoy, stayed on as an adviser to the Board and to Zijderveld through March 31, 2018.[5]

In January 2021, New Avon Company announced its corporate name change to The Avon Company.[36]

On May 22, 2019, the Brazilian beauty company Natura agreed to buy Avon Products for more than $2 billion,[37][38] shareholders approved the purchase in November.[39] creating the world's fourth-largest beauty company.[40] Under the deal's terms, Natura will hold 76% of the combined business with over $10 billion in annual revenue.[41][42][43] After the purchase Avon Products stoped trading on the New York Stock Exchange.[44]

In November 2023, Avon announced it would open stores in the United Kingdom for the first time in the company's history, augmenting its already existing network of 63 stores in Turkey.[45] However, in August 2024, Avon Products filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an effort to settle its talc-based lawsuits.[46][47] In September 2025, it was announced that Natura will sell Avon International to Regent LP for £1. The sale does not include Avon's Latin American and Russian operations, which will continue to be owned by Natura.[48][49] The sale was completed on December 31, 2025.[50][51]

In February 2026, Natura sold Avon Russia to the Arnest Group for $26.9 million.[52][53]

American corruption charges

Beginning in 2008, the conduct of various employees and executives of Avon Products were investigated for possible violations of the law, including bribery and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.[57]

Avon Products began a probe of its China division after an internal whistleblower alleged bribery in June 2008.[57] At least four executives, both in Asia and in the United States, were suspended in 2010,[57] and later fired for their roles in the activities being investigated.[58] According to The New York Times, Avon spent over $170 million on legal fees and costs related to the investigation: $59 million in 2009 and $95 million in 2010, and $22.5 million for the first quarter of 2011.[59] The final tally was about $500 million.

The Times reported that Avon Products would report the findings to the United States Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and try to negotiate the penalties that those entities may impose.[59] On February 24, 2011, Avon filed a report with the Securities and Exchange commission highlighting the investigation as a corporate risk factor that could cause investor loss.[60]

In 2014, Avon Products settled the bribery charges for a total of $135 million; $68 million in criminal penalties, with the remainder in interest, disgorgement, and fines from a civil case brought by the SEC.[61][62]

Animal testing

Avon Products vowed in 1989 that as a company located in the United States, it would no longer participate in animal testing.[63] Avon has since claimed to be working globally to introduce safer methods of testing cosmetics that do not require animals. These methods include in vitro testing, computer simulations, and testing cosmetics on human volunteers.[63]

Although Avon does not practice animal testing of its cosmetics that are sold in the United States, certain specialty products do require extensive testing in other countries. In China, specialty products that require degrees of animal testing include but are not limited to: sunscreen products, whitening/pigmentation products, and hair dye/perm or growth products.[63] Despite laws that require animal testing in some countries, Avon chooses to distribute its products in those jurisdictions. Laws in various countries require companies to pay for animal testing through a commercial business in order to sell certain products in that country.[64] Because Avon is not globally animal-testing free, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has not included Avon on their cruelty-free list.[65][66]

In 2019, Avon ended all regulatory-required animal testing, making it the first global beauty company selling in China to stop all animal testing of ingredients and products across all its brands by developing new ways to deliver products that do not require animal testing, such as reformulating products.[67] PETA has since announced that it has added Avon Products Inc. to their list of companies "Working for Regulatory Change".[68]