Alibaba vs L'Oreal: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: Alibaba and L'Oreal side by side

1. 1909L'Oreal

   Company Founded

   Eugène Schueller registers the Société Française de Teintures Inoffensives pour Cheveux in Paris with 800 francs in capital, beginning commercial sale of his Oréale hair dye formula to Parisian hairdressers.

2. 1912L'Oreal

   First International Expansion

   L'Oréal hair dyes reach distribution in the Netherlands, Austria, and Italy, establishing the international distribution ambition that would eventually span 150 countries.

3. 1929L'Oreal

   Imédia First Consumer Hair Dye

   L'Oréal introduces Imédia, the world's first hair dye product formulated for home application by consumers, marking the company's pivot from purely professional B2B to consumer-facing distribution.

4. 1963L'Oreal

   Euronext Paris IPO

   L'Oréal lists on the Paris Stock Exchange, providing capital for accelerated international expansion and establishing the public shareholder structure that persists today alongside the Bettencourt family's controlling stake.

5. 1971L'Oreal

   'Because You're Worth It' Campaign Launched

   Copywriter Ilon Specht creates the 'Because You're Worth It' tagline for L'Oréal Paris one of the most enduring advertising phrases in consumer goods history, reframing beauty products as expressions of female self-worth rather than instruments of male approva…

6. 1991L'Oreal

   Acquisition of La Roche-Posay

   L'Oréal acquires La Roche-Posay, the French dermo-cosmetic brand founded in 1975, establishing its first significant presence in the pharmacy channel and laying groundwork for what would become the Dermatological Beauty division.

7. 1996L'Oreal

   Maybelline Acquisition

   L'Oréal acquires Maybelline New York from Wasserstein Perella for approximately $758 million, instantly becoming the global leader in mass-market color cosmetics and significantly expanding its North American market position.

8. 1999Alibaba

   Alibaba.com Launched

   Jack Ma and 17 co-founders launch Alibaba.com from a Hangzhou apartment with $60,000 in pooled savings, creating a B2B online marketplace connecting Chinese manufacturers with international buyers.

9. 1999Alibaba

   First Major Investment from SoftBank

   Masayoshi Son invests $20 million in Alibaba in a meeting reportedly lasting five minutes, alongside $5 million from Goldman Sachs, providing survival capital through the imminent dot-com crash.

10. 2000L'Oreal

    Matrix and Kiehl's Acquisitions

    L'Oréal acquires professional hair care brand Matrix and American apothecary brand Kiehl's Since 1851, broadening both the professional channel and the prestige specialty retail presence in the U.S. Market.

11. 2001Alibaba

    Gold Supplier Program Launch

    Alibaba launches the Gold Supplier verified membership program at $3,000 per year, generating approximately $10 million in first-year revenue and proving the B2B marketplace model's commercial viability.

12. 2003Alibaba

    Taobao Launches to Challenge eBay

    Alibaba secretly develops and launches Taobao, a consumer-to-consumer marketplace offered free to both buyers and sellers, directly targeting eBay's Chinese market position. Within three years, Taobao surpasses eBay's Chinese market share.

13. 2004Alibaba

    Alipay Escrow Service Created

    Alibaba creates Alipay as a payment escrow solution for Taobao transactions, holding buyer funds until delivery confirmation before releasing payment to sellers solving the trust barrier that was limiting online commerce adoption.

14. 2008Alibaba

    Tmall (Taobao Mall) Launch

    Alibaba launches a premium B2C marketplace initially called Taobao Mall (later rebranded Tmall), allowing established brands to operate official storefronts with higher trust credentials and enabling Alibaba to serve the premium consumer segment.

15. 2009Alibaba

    Alibaba Cloud Founded

    Alibaba launches Alibaba Cloud (Aliyun) as a cloud computing business, a decade ahead of many enterprise adoption cycles, positioning it to become Asia Pacific's dominant cloud provider.

16. 2011Alibaba

    First Singles' Day Shopping Festival

    Alibaba transforms the informal 'Singles' Day' celebration on November 11 into a promotional shopping event on Taobao and Tmall, generating ~$130 million (936 million yuan) in sales a figure that would grow more than 100-fold in subsequent years.

17. 2014Alibaba

    Record-Breaking NYSE IPO

    Alibaba completes its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on September 19, 2014, raising $25 billion the largest IPO in US stock market history at that time at a valuation of approximately $168 billion.

18. 2017L'Oreal

    CeraVe Acquisition $1.3 Billion

    L'Oréal acquires CeraVe, AcneFree, and Ambi from Valeant Pharmaceuticals for $1.3 billion.

19. 2018L'Oreal

    ModiFace Acquisition Beauty Tech

    L'Oréal acquires ModiFace, a Toronto-based augmented reality and artificial intelligence beauty technology company, establishing a proprietary virtual try-on and skin diagnostic platform deployed across brand apps, retail partner websites, and social media pla…

20. 2019Alibaba

    Dual Listing on Hong Kong Stock Exchange

    Alibaba completes a secondary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, raising an additional $13 billion and broadening its investor base among Asian institutional and retail investors, reducing dependence on US capital markets.

21. 2021Alibaba

    Record Antitrust Fine

    Chinese regulators impose a 18.23 billion yuan ($2.8 billion USD) antitrust fine on Alibaba following a months-long investigation into its 'choose one from two' exclusivity practices at the time, the largest antitrust fine in Chinese regulatory history.

22. 2021L'Oreal

    Nicolas Hieronimus Becomes CEO

    Nicolas Hieronimus, a 30-year L'Oréal veteran who led the Luxe division's transformation, succeeds Jean-Paul Agon as Chief Executive Officer, bringing strategic continuity while accelerating digital commerce and sustainability investment.

23. 2023Alibaba

    Six-Business-Unit Restructuring Announced

    Alibaba announces its most significant organizational restructuring, dividing the company into six independent business units each with its own CEO and board: Taobao Tmall Group, Cloud Intelligence Group, Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, Cainiao S…

24. 2023L'Oreal

    Aesop Acquisition $2.5 Billion

    L'Oréal completes the acquisition of Aesop, the Australian premium natural beauty brand, from Natura &Co for $2.525 billion the company's largest acquisition in over a decade and a strategic entry into the premium wellness and natural beauty segment.

25. 2025L'Oreal

    FY2025 Sales Reach 44.052 Billion

    LOral reported 44.052 billion in FY2025 sales, 4.0% like-for-like growth, 8.892 billion in operating profit, 6.127 billion in net profit after non-controlling interests, and more than 95,000 employees.

26. 2026L'Oreal

    Kering Beauté Acquisition Completed

    L'Oréal closed the ~$4.52 billion (€4 billion) purchase of Kering Beauté, including Creed, with 50-year licences for Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga and, from July 2027, Gucci.

27. 2026L'Oreal

    Record First-Half Margin

    H1 2026 sales reached ~$26.9 billion (€23.77 billion), up 6.8% like-for-like, with a record 21.3% operating margin.

Acquisitions

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