Coty's origins are embedded in the history of modern luxury. The company was founded in Paris in 1904 by François Coty, a perfumer who transformed the fragrance industry. Before Coty perfumes were expensive, bespoke items housed in generic apothecary bottles. Coty partnered with the well-known glassmaker René Lalique to design beautiful, artistic bottles, and pioneered the use of synthetic ingredients to mass-produce fragrances. He democratized luxury, selling prestige perfumes at a price point accessible to the emerging middle class, building a global empire that would eventually be acquired by the secretive, billionaire Reimann family of Germany (through their JAB Holding Company).
The Licensing Empire
The core financial engine of modern Coty is its "Prestige" division. Unlike LVMH or Chanel, which own both the fashion brand and the beauty brand, Coty operates primarily through a strong licensing model. The company negotiates exclusive, long-term rights to develop, manufacture, and sell fragrances and cosmetics for global luxury fashion houses, most notably Gucci, Burberry, Calvin Klein, and Hugo Boss. Coty takes on the large manufacturing and marketing risks; in exchange, the fashion houses receive a lucrative royalty stream without having to learn the complex chemistry of perfumery. Because the prestige fragrances command high retail prices and are sold in luxury department stores, this division generated 66% of Coty's FY2026 net revenues and most of its adjusted operating profit.
The P&G Acquisition Disaster
The defining crisis of Coty's modern history occurred in 2016, when the company executed an ambitious, complex $12.5 billion transaction to acquire 41 beauty brands from the consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble (P&G). The deal included mass-market brands like CoverGirl, Clairol, and Max Factor. The logic was to instantly transform Coty into the global leader in beauty. Instead it was an operational disaster. The complex integration of P&G's large supply chain crippled the company. consumer tastes were rapidly shifting away from legacy drugstore brands (like CoverGirl) toward independent, digital-first "influencer" brands. Coty's debt skyrocketed, revenue plummeted, and the company churned through multiple CEOs in a desperate attempt to avoid bankruptcy.
The Kylie Cosmetics Gamble
In a desperate bid to remain relevant to younger consumers and boost its struggling consumer beauty division, Coty turned to celebrity influence. In 2019, the company agreed to pay $600 million for a 51% stake in Kylie Cosmetics (closing in January 2020), the beauty brand founded by Kylie Jenner, and subsequently acquired a stake in Kim Kardashian's beauty line. The deals were heavily criticized by Wall Street as very overpriced, but they demonstrated Coty's desperate need to inject instant digital credibility and strong social media reach into its aging portfolio of legacy mass-market brands.
From Nabi's Turnaround to Coty.Curated
Sue Nabi, a former L'Oréal executive, led Coty from September 2020 to December 2025, refocusing it on prestige fragrance, cutting debt and adding a Euronext Paris listing in 2023. Sales rose to $6.12 billion in FY2024 before slipping to $5.89 billion in FY2025. Markus Strobel became Executive Chairman and Interim CEO on January 1, 2026, launched the Coty.Curated framework, sold the remaining Wella stake for $750 million and agreed to return the Gucci Beauty license to Kering a year early for $400 million. Coty closed FY2026 with $5.81 billion in net revenues and is reviewing the future of its mass cosmetics business by the end of 2026.
