Views: 0 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-11-06 Origin: Site
Recently, Kimberly-Clark, a global leader in the personal care industry, and beauty giant Kenvue jointly announced the signing of an acquisition agreement.
Under the agreement, Kimberly-Clark will acquire all outstanding common shares of Kenvue through a cash-and-stock transaction, valued at approximately $48.7 billion (about RMB 347.207 billion), based on the closing price of Kimberly-Clark's common stock on October 31, 2025.
If successfully completed, it will set a new record for the largest M&A deal in the beauty industry.
The announcement stated that the merged company will bring together ten $1 billion-value brands.
Currently, Kenvue owns multiple well-known skincare brands, including Neutrogena, Dabao, Aveeno, Dr. Ci:Labo, and Johnson's Baby.
Kenvue originated from Johnson & Johnson.
In 2021, Johnson & Johnson launched a business spin-off, separating its consumer health business into an independently operated company. In 2022, the company was officially renamed Kenvue and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2023.
From 2019 to 2024, Kenvue's revenue remained stable overall, maintaining around $15 billion (about RMB 106.942 billion). In 2024, revenue was $15.46 billion, a slight year-on-year increase of 0.07%.
However, its net profit performance has been poor in the past two years. In 2023 and 2024, net profit attributable to parent companies decreased by 19.38% and 38.10% year-on-year respectively, with 2024 net profit at $1.03 billion (about RMB 7.343 billion).
In 2025, Kenvue's profitability has rebounded.
In the first three quarters, net profit attributable to parent companies increased by 54.68% year-on-year, mainly driven by strong performance in the first half of the year—net profit attributable to parent companies surged by 109.60% year-on-year in H1.
However, performance fluctuated in the third quarter. Net sales in the quarter decreased by 3.5% year-on-year, and organic sales fell by 4.4%; operating profit margin was 16.7%, a slight year-on-year decline. The financial report stated that sales performance was mainly affected by changes in shipment timing in China, reduced trade inventory of some customers, and a continuous slowdown in global weighted category growth rates.
Despite sales pressure, gross profit margin continued to improve. In Q3 2025, Kenvue's gross profit margin was 59.1%, an increase of 0.6 percentage points year-on-year; adjusted gross profit margin was 61.2%, up 0.5 percentage points year-on-year. This improvement was mainly due to increased production efficiency from global supply chain optimization, which partially offset the adverse impacts of declining sales volume, inflation, tariffs, and exchange rates.
Kenvue expects full-year net sales and organic sales to decline by low single digits. For the fourth quarter, Kenvue stated that with a strong innovative product pipeline and a low base in the same period last year, net sales and organic sales are expected to improve compared with the first three quarters.
It is reported that the transaction brings together two iconic American companies to create a portfolio of complementary products, including 10 $1 billion-value brands that touch nearly half of the global population at every stage of life.
Mike Hsu, Chairman and CEO of Kimberly-Clark, stated that Kenvue has a unique position at the intersection of CPG and healthcare, with outstanding talents and differentiated brand products serving attractive consumer health categories. "We will serve billions of consumers across all stages of life."
Larry Merlo, Chairman of Kenvue's Board of Directors, also said that combining Kenvue and Kimberly-Clark to build a globally leading enterprise with a unique position in consumer health will unlock broader new growth opportunities in the future.
Based on the announcement, the acquisition will focus on delivering the following values:
Enhanced visibility: The transaction will increase the combined company's visibility in key categories that are expected to benefit from long-term growth trends.
Accelerated global growth: With a broader product range and greater reach, the merged company will become a global leader in health and wellness. The merger will maximize the complementary strengths of both companies to accelerate global growth.
Complementary advantages: Kimberly-Clark has a proven strategic approach integrating consumer-centric innovation, creative capabilities, and social e-commerce expertise; Kenvue has leading innovative technologies, strengths in key regions, and unique partnerships with healthcare professionals such as dermatologists, dentists, and pediatricians. Both parties will enhance the merged business platform.
Strengthened R&D capabilities: The new merged company will have a world-class R&D team, incremental investments, and the scale and resources needed to create innovative solutions to address unmet consumer needs.
Attractive financial profile: Based on current forecasts, the merged company is expected to generate approximately $32 billion in annual net revenue and about $7 billion in adjusted EBITDA in 2025. Strong execution and realization of synergies will enable the merged company to achieve industry-leading growth and financial performance.
The strategic combination of Kimberly-Clark and Kenvue is likely to reshape the industry competition landscape.
In recent years, Kenvue has steadily remained in the global top tier of the beauty industry. In WWD's newly released 2024 Global Top 100 Beauty Companies list, Kenvue successfully ranked among the world's top 15. The merged company's beauty business strength is expected to be further enhanced, and its ranking is likely to rise.
Senior industry observers point out that with frequent mergers and acquisitions among giants, the oligopolistic trend in the beauty industry is accelerating.
On one hand, beauty giants are launching "ecological wars" with strong capital.
For example, L'Oreal Group announced last month that it would acquire Kering Beauty for 4 billion euros, not only bringing the high-end fragrance brand Creed under its umbrella but also obtaining authorization for the beauty and fragrance businesses of luxury brands including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga. In addition, L'Oreal is also considering acquiring Armani's beauty business. As the world's largest beauty group, its business territory continues to expand.
Estée Lauder acquired The Ordinary's parent company for over RMB 12 billion last year, further consolidating its beauty strength. Unilever, which has long ranked second in global beauty revenue, has invested in or acquired at least 7 beauty and personal care brands since the beginning of this year.
At the same time, domestic leading enterprises are also improving their brand matrices through acquisitions.
PROYA has built a diversified brand system covering skincare, color cosmetics, and hair care by acquiring brands such as Colorkey and OR. Its revenue exceeded RMB 10 billion in 2024, and recently, it invested in the color cosmetics brand Flower Knows.
Juyi Group has successively acquired brands such as Biocellulose and Foltene to improve its matrix. Shuiyang Co., Ltd. continues to expand its high-end line by acquiring brands such as EviDenS de Beauté, PA, and RV. Yatsen Electronics has also supplemented its skincare segment through acquisitions, with its brand Clarins recording GMV exceeding RMB 1.3 billion on mainstream e-commerce platforms from January to September this year.
On the other hand, the living space for small and medium-sized brands as well as new brands is being continuously squeezed.
Traffic costs continue to rise, and the thresholds for channels and R&D are getting higher, making many emerging brands "peak at debut".
Analysts point out that early emerging brands could start with low costs relying on content platforms such as Xiaohongshu and Douyin, but now online traffic prices are high, the return on marketing investment has dropped significantly, and new brands can hardly sustain the high promotion costs. In addition, facing the strong R&D capabilities and resource barriers of giants, new brands also face enormous pressure in technological accumulation and product innovation.
Many small and medium-sized brands with good reputations in the industry and among consumers are now facing growth bottlenecks.
"Future competition is no longer a one-on-one battle between brands, but a comprehensive contest between groups in terms of brand matrix, channel control, R&D innovation, and supply chain efficiency," the senior industry observer said. For new brands, the window period from 0 to 1 is shortening, and survival challenges are becoming increasingly severe.
