The Estée Lauder Companies is one of the world's largest pure-play prestige beauty groups, with a portfolio of more than 20 brands sold in about 150 countries. Headquartered in New York, it is listed on the NYSE as EL while the Lauder family controls voting power through Class B shares. Fiscal 2026 net sales were $15.049 billion, and the company employed about 57,000 people as of June 30, 2025, including roughly 35,000 point-of-sale demonstrators. The company is headquartered in New York City, New York.
Estée Lauder makes money by developing, manufacturing and marketing prestige skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products, then selling them at premium prices through department stores, specialty retailers such as Sephora and Ulta Beauty, travel retail (duty-free), salons, its own freestanding stores and brand websites, and third-party platforms. Skin care (La Mer, Estée Lauder, Clinique, The Ordinary) is the largest category, followed by makeup (MAC, Clinique, Estée Lauder, Bobbi Brown) and fragrance (Jo Malone London, Tom Ford, Le Labo, Kilian Paris). Brand equity supports a gross margin of about 75%, but the model is costly to run: advertising, sampling, point-of-sale beauty advisors and selling expenses absorb most of that margin, which is why operating margin is the number investors watch.