Coty hires former L’Oreal boss as its third chief executive this year
Beauty firm Coty has hired former L’Oreal boss Sue Nabi to become its third chief executive in just six months, sending shares up almost four per cent in pre-market trading.
Nabi will take over the reins from Peter Harf, who was appointed chief executive of Coty just last month. Harf will step down front the helm in September, and will remain an executive chairman of the cosmetics maker.
Harf took over from Pierre Denis, who was appointed boss of Coty in February, becoming the first of at least three chief executives to take up the position this year.
Nabi, its latest in the line of chief executives, founded the luxury skincare line Orveda, after serving two decades at L’Oreal, where she oversaw the creation of the brand’s “Because We’re Worth It” tagline.
The French entrepreneur became the global president of Lancome in 2009, and was widely credited for reviving the 85-year old cosmetics giant. Under her lead, Lancome saw double-digit growth in its makeup and skincare streams.
The move comes as Coty continues to inject money into new beauty brands in a bid to shake off its mounting debt pile.
Last week, Coty picked up a 20 per cent stake in Kim Kardashian West’s make-up brand KKW in a deal worth $200m (£159m). The funding valued Karashian’s business at $1bn, and officially rendered the reality TV star a billionaire for the first time.
Earlier this year it took a $600m majority stake in KardashianWest’s sister, Kylie Jenner’s, beauty brand.
Coty is currently billions of dollars in debt amid slowing sales, and has lost about 62 per cent of its market value this year alone.
The firm took a $1bn writedown last year after it struggled to integrate beauty brands including CoverGirl and Clairol that it acquired in its blockbuster deal with Procter & Gamble in 2015.
Shares rose 3.7 per cent to $4.32 in pre-market trading this morning.
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