Energizer Holdings, Inc. (via spin-off)

Edgewell Personal Care was not founded by individual entrepreneurs but created through the corporate separation of Energizer Holdings' personal care business on July 1, 2015. Energizer itself was incorporated in 1999 as a subsidiary of Ralston Purina Company and became an independent public company in 2000. The decision to spin off the personal care business was driven by the strategic logic that a pure-play personal care company would command a higher valuation than a diversified battery-and-personal-care conglomerate. The separation distributed 100% of the outstanding shares of the newly formed Energizer Holdings (battery business) to shareholders, with the remaining personal care business retaining the Edgewell name and trading under the ticker EPC.

Edgewell Personal Care Company was created on July 1, 2015, through the tax-free spin-off of Energizer Holdings' personal care business. The company inherited a portfolio of brands acquired by Energizer over the preceding decade, including Schick-Wilkinson Sword (acquired from Pfizer in 2003 for $930 million), Playtex Products (acquired in 2007 for $1.9 billion), Edge and Skintimate (acquired in 2009), and American Safety Razor (acquired in 2010 for $301 million). While Edgewell as a corporate entity dates to 2015, its brand lineage extends to 1772 through Wilkinson Sword and 1926 through Schick. The company was incorporated in Missouri on September 23, 1999, as part of Ralston Purina's corporate structure, and has been publicly traded since April 1, 2000. Following the 2015 spin-off, Edgewell has pursued a strategy of selective acquisitions (Bulldog, Jack Black, Cremo, Billie) and operational improvement to transform from a legacy shave company into a modern personal care enterprise.