Lawyers for Estée Lauder were in a Toronto court today trying to kick out the founder of a small Canadian cosmetics company they bought a st...
Lawyers for Estée Lauder were in a Toronto court today trying to kick out the founder of a small Canadian cosmetics company they bought a stake in last year, the latest twist in the dizzying saga of one of the fastest growing names in beauty products.
The fashion and beauty conglomerate was seeking an injunction in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice against Brandon Truaxe, the founder of Deciem, one of the hottest beauty brands in the business. The injunction would effectively remove Truaxe from managing the company.
It's the latest in a series of controversies for the upstart company behind the hugely popular The Ordinary skin care line.
Headquartered in Toronto, and calling itself "The Abnormal Beauty Company," Deciem is one of the most disruptive operators in the beauty business, mainly because of its low prices. Estée Lauder bought a reported 28 per cent stake in Deciem last year, intrigued by the upstart company's growth potential.
Most of Deciem's products cost less than $12, and some cost less than $5 — price points that are unheard of elsewhere in the beauty industry, where markups can be as high as 80 to 90 per cent. The Ordinary beauty line also offers simple ingredients and relatively modest benefit claims.
The disruptive approach has led to a cult-like following of customers, and helped propel Deciem to a reported $300 million in annual sales.
But things at Deciem started going a bit sideways this year. There was a series of executive departures and firings.
Then a number of strange incoherent videos by Truaxe were posted on the Deciem corporate account.
The latest of those videos came this week when Truaxe announced he was closing all of Deciem's stores.
Thursday's move by Estée Lauder comes in the wake of those closures. The company was seeking an injunction to effectively remove Truaxe from the business he founded.
"We can confirm that we have commenced legal action in this matter," Estée Lauder told CBC News in a statement. "[But] we cannot comment further on this pending litigation at this time."
A post on Deciem's Instagram page contained what appeared to be an email from Mark Gelowitz, a partner with the firm Osler, Hoskin and Harcourt LLP. The email was directed at Truaxe, and the accompanying motion stated that Truaxe has not complied with the unanimous shareholders agreement.
The motion seeks an interim order removing Truaxe from Deciem's board of directors and asks that Nicola Kilner — currently Deciem's co-CEO — be named to the role alone.
In court, the motion was initially dealt with privately in judges chambers, before the judge agreed to put the case off until Friday.
The injunction asks that Truaxe be prohibited from any involvement in the company, as well as calling for him to be prohibited from any hirings or firings at the company. And it asks that Truaxe be prohibited from issuing statements or posting on any of Deciem's social media accounts.
In court, a lawyer for Deciem said he wasn't able to comment publicly. He did say he was acting on behalf of Deciem, not Truaxe and that "there is a difference."
He also said Truaxe himself did not have a lawyer representing him in court today.
In a text to CBC News, Truaxe seemed to suggest he was OK with Estée Lauder's legal move. "I like it," he replied, when asked for his thoughts on what Estée Lauder was trying to do.
by CBC News via CBC | Top Stories News
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