Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

Jill  Avery

Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2019

Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

Abstract

On October 7, 2019, the Shiseido Group announced that it would acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant for $845 million, a valuation of 8.5 times sales. Did Shiseido pay too much or too little for this brand asset? Every acquisition had to be measured against the cost of developing and building a look-a-like brand internally. Would Drunk Elephant prove to be an integral part of Shiseido's future success and what would it take to unlock its full brand value? Would Drunk Elephant thrive under Shiseido's management? How much further investment would Shiseido need to make to realize the new brand's potential?

Keywords: personal care; Startup; Brand equity; brand valuation; Brand Value; brand storytelling; brand management; Brands and Branding; Valuation; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Japan;

Language: English

Format: Print

25 pages

Educators

Citation:

Avery, Jill. "Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant." Harvard Business School Case 520-052, November 2019.

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Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

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