Clorox Buys Burt's Bees

[Richard]

4/13/2008 - (NaturalNews) The Clorox Company has announced plans to purchase Burt's Bees, a personal care products company known for using only natural ingredients such as beeswax and flowers. The company is known for products including lip balm, hand cream, soap, moisturizers and shampoo.

"We see lots of growth potential in Burt's Bees,'' said Beth Springer, Clorox's head of strategy. The company plans to expand distribution of Burt's Bees products from its current base in health food stores to mass retailers such as Target.

Clorox has agreed to pay $925 million for the company. Currently, 40 percent of Burt's Bees revenue comes from sales of lip-care products, 30 percent comes from baby and outdoor products, and 30 percent comes from personal cleaning products. The personal cleaning line is the fastest-growing.

The purchase marks part of Clorox's wider strategy to acquire a number of health and convenience product lines in the nest three years. Clorox is also the owner of Brita water filters.

"The Clorox name doesn't tend to make one think of nature- friendly products,'' said Ali Dibadj, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. "This acquisition can help.''

Clorox is not the only major company to acquire natural or environmentally companies and product lines in recent years. Colgate-Palmolive Co., the largest toothpaste maker in the world, purchased Tom's of Maine in 2006. Like Burt's Bees, Tom's of Maine makes its products (toothpastes, soaps and shaving cream) only from natural ingredients, such as olive oil. The company was acquired for $100 million. In 2000, Unilever NV bought Ben and Jerry's Homemade Inc., well-known for its natural ice creams.

http://www.naturalnews.com/023002.html

[spiritvoyager]

Interesting. Those of us who like BB's products should monitor whether the ingredients change.  I actually use the regular old fashioned Clorox bleach in small amounts to disinfect and to clean produce, with the "Clorox baths".  The sources I have read say that regular Clorox when highly diluted, breaks down into a harmless substance. 

I did notice some Tom's products (bar soap and toothpaste) appear in regular grocery stores in the last year or so.  I haven't bought any lately, but the products' ingredients seemed to be o.k. at the time. 

Still, supporting the mom and pops seems to be the best idea if it is practical for the consumer.  Hopefully, all the products mentioned and their ingredients are made in the U.S. 

[DreamTime]

Well this news just bursts my bubble...seems like anything that is good for us and all natural is being bought up by the big conglomerates. One way or another, they are bound and determined to make us unhealthy.

[Polly]

It looks like Clorox is trying to change its image and enlarge its sales by going natural with these cleaning products and by buying Burt's Bees.

http://www.clorox.com/products/overview.php?prod_id=gw

Where Clorox began:

http://www.clorox.com/our_story/article....ox_history

Five investors, some salt ponds, and a very bright idea.
On May 3, 1913, five California entrepreneurs invested $100 apiece to do something that had never been done before: convert the brine available in the nearby salt ponds of San Francisco Bay into bleach using a sophisticated process of electrolysis. They located their offices in Oakland, California—where their headquarters remain today. In 1914, they named their brand Clorox.

 

[MC]

I don't buy this.Something stinks here.Btw,Burt's Bees has great products.The strategy is to buy out or make these types of company's go out of business,by changing laws so that's it's harder for them to stay in business

[Polly]

I sent Burt's Bees an email last night asking them what happened.  I am waiting for a reply.

To be fair, I can think of a whole lot of worse companies than Clorox to buy Burt's Bees; like Monsanto, for example.  :D:D:D  If that happened I don't think I would buy anymore of Burt's Bees products.  :D  I'm going to see what happens with Burt's Bees.  These products are sold in drug stores and other manistream stores in my area and have been for some time.

Personally, I don't think Clorox is a really bad company as far as mainstream companies go.  I have not done indepth research on them though.  There are many which are much worse.  I do use small amounts of Clorox on occasion.  I think it is a useful product.

I was really irritated when R.J. Reynolds bought American Spirit years ago and told them so.  American Spirit has done much since to keep their customers.

These small companies do well and larger companies are always looking for prosperous, small companies to buy up.  Then new, small companies spring up to replace the ones which sold out.

Of course, I am not saying there is not an effort to absorb and homogenize the alternative industry.  It's been happening for years.

[Polly]

This is kind of old news which I failed to realize at first.  Info from their FAQ page:

http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stor...ageId=76#4

I  heard your company was purchased in the last year. Is that true?


On October 31, 2007, the Clorox Company announced their intention to buy Burt’s Bees. This pending merger is expected to close in December 2007, at which point we will be part of the Clorox Company’s family of products.

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Is your company publicly traded and if so, what is the stock symbol?

Until the merger is complete, Burt’s Bees is still privately held. Once the merger is finalized, consumers interested in Burt’s Bees can purchase stocks from The Clorox Company.

[Richard]

I was really irritated when R.J. Reynolds bought American Spirit years ago and told them so.  American Spirit has done much since to keep their customers.

I was mad about that too. I hate seeing my favorite companies being bought up by large corporations. :X

[Polly]

I don't like it either, Richard.  I prefer small companies.  I'm going to do some more checking into Clorox just for my own information.  I may try one of their "green" cleaning products to see what I think.

[Polly]

Here is Burt's Bees reply which is likely a standard reply to similar enquiries:

Hello Polly,

As you've heard, we at Burt's Bees are entering an exciting new chapter in our lives as a result of our recent sale to The Clorox Company. It's a great opportunity to help us better deliver against our mission of making people’s lives better everyday, naturally. 

While we have been growing exponentially over the past several years, The Clorox Company’s resources will help us continue to grow.  Of course, this will help us broaden awareness of the benefits of natural personal care products and access to them.  This is in line with our commitment to The Greater Good.

Part of the reason we are partnering is that we share some very important values. Like Burt’s Bees, The Clorox Company is highly principled in corporate social responsibility and maintains the highest possible standards of business conduct, integrity, safety, quality, and respect for people and the planet in everything they do.  

Further, while Clorox can help us further our mission, Burt’s Bees can help Clorox in their health & wellness and sustainability efforts.  Additionally, as the leader in natural personal care, Burt’s Bees brings Clorox both category expertise and leadership in a category they had yet to enter.   

Burt’s Bees will remain a standalone subsidiary in Raleigh-Durham. Daily operations will continue with little change. Clorox recognizes the uniqueness of our brand and products and will work to preserve and nurture both, to allow us to move forward as we have been for the past 20 years. 

Burt’s Bees will remain committed to our two founding principles: Natural products work with our bodies to promote balance and well-being; and we should respect, preserve and improve the precious resource of our environment.  These founding principles have guided this company - they are, and will continue to be the core of the business. I assure you that the brand and products we all know and love will not change! 

Burt’s Bees will always make products with the highest level of natural ingredients possible. Our products on average are 99% natural with half being 100%.  As the leader in developing The Natural Standard for the category, we will continue to drive this initiative and raise our standards as we always have done.   

We will also continue to be a leader in environmentally sensitive practices and packaging and refrain from any manner of animal testing at any stage in our supply chain. 

I will be sure to forward your feedback on to the appropriate team for further review. We take all comments, concerns and suggestions very seriously and they are also logged in our Consumer Service database for the appropriate team to see.  

We appreciate your continued loyalty to our brand! 

Best Regards,
Melanie

Consumer Care
Burt's Bees Inc.
1-800-849-7112 option 4
Mon-Fri 10AM-4:30PM EST

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