As a board member, Pakman recounted the ups and downs Dollar Shave Club faced, including the launch of a creative marketing campaign that enabled the company to rival Gillette and others in the razor business, eventually capturing 15 percent of the men’s razor cartridge market share in the US previous year. The companies have confirmed the story via a press release. Forbes reported the purchase price at $1 billion, citing an anonymous source close to the deal. Dubin said the company had “long admired Unilever’s purpose-driven business leadership and its category expertise is unmatched”.
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“We weren’t looking to be acquired. but he did a really great job convincing us of a few things”, Dubin said, including “how ambitious and aggressive and innovative they are” and “the economies of scale they can bring in a lot of different areas”.
Dollar Shave Club will remain largely independent to build its brand, which was made famous by a series of tongue-in-cheek viral videos starring Dubin.
The company isn’t profitable yet but Dublin expects that to happen by year’s end.
In addition to giving Unilever an entry into the shaving market dominated by US rival Procter & Gamble Co.’s Gillette, Dollar Shave Club’s direct-to-consumer business model gives Unilever “unique consumer and data insights”, said Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America.
Unilever and Dollar Shave Club were not available to confirm the report outside regular market hours.
The maker of Axe Body Spray and Dove soap is adding a new brand to its arsenal. With the acquisition of DSC, it will now have another category of male grooming with the range of DSC’s products.
Dollar Shave Club has 3.2 million members, according to the statement.
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P&G’s share of the men’s razor and blade businesses in North America fell to 59% past year from 71% in 2010, according to Euromonitor. The company had sales of $152 million in 2015.
