Amazon's local brand Hero Cosmetics was acquired

Hero Cosmetics, an acne care brand on Amazon, was acquired this week for $630 million. Launched on Amazon in 2017, Hero Cosmetics' Mighty Patch has been one of the best-selling products in the beauty and personal care category, ranking first in Amazon's search results. The brand is expected to reach $140 million in sales by 2022.

Church & Dwight paid $630 million for the brand, which has sales of $115 million, representing 14 times the $45 million in EBITDA it generated over the past 12 months.

The acquirer, Church & Dwight, is a manufacturing company that makes a variety of goods. The company owns personal care brands such as Nair and Batiste, and cleaning products such as Arm & Hammer and OxiClean.

Hero Cosmetics is the third $500 million-plus Amazon-native brand acquisition, following Smarty Pants in November 2020 and Zesty Paws in August 2021.

Hero Cosmetics co-founder and CEO Ju Rhyu said the company will leverage some of Church & Dwight's infrastructure and backend capabilities to accelerate the expansion of its distribution globally. In addition, Rhyu will continue to serve as co-founder and CEO after the acquisition, and co-founders Dwight Lee and Andy Lee will continue to serve as their respective chief operating officers and chief design officers.

It is worth mentioning that recently, Packageable, the parent company of Pharmapacks, Amazon’s largest third-party seller, announced that it would begin liquidation, layoffs, and close its business.

Packable issued a notice to employees saying that 138 employees will be laid off, accounting for about 20% of the total number of employees, and the remaining 372 employees are expected to be laid off as "personal responsibility reduction is completed."

The notice shows that the company has failed to obtain new financing to maintain its business. "We have worked hard to seek internal and external financing options, but ultimately failed. Given that the company has no viable financing options, we are now forced to cease operations, liquidate any remaining collateral, and close the business."

Packable is the parent company of Pharmapacks, an online seller of health, personal care and beauty products that was founded in 2010 as a brick-and-mortar pharmacy in the Bronx, New York, before pivoting to the internet and selling on Amazon. The health and beauty retailer was at one point the largest seller on Amazon’s third-party marketplace.