Company Overview

Largest cosmetics company in the world. Encourages employees to work out individual career paths. Has a strong internship program; for 13 years the company has sponsored an Apprentice-like contest called Brandstorm for college students to create and introduce a product—from concept to advertising. Recruits at some 350 schools, and ranks 42nd on Fortune’s 2006 list of the “100 Top MBA Employers.”

Headquartered in France, L’Oréal creates makeup, perfume, and hair and skin products for both mass-market and upscale audiences. Maybelline and L’Oréal are the company’s two most successful mass-market brands, while Lancôme is its upmarket brand. Worldwide, the company is represented in 150 countries with more than 400 subsidiaries marketing more than 500 brands and about 2,000 products. L’Oréal USA is the largest subsidiary of the French company. L’Oréal products first reached American shores in the 1920s; today, L’Oréal makes nearly a third of its revenue in the United States and Canada, and the United States is the company’s single largest market. In May 2005, the company acquired SkinCeuticals as a means to enter the expanding plastic surgery and spa products market.