Yesterday, Vasiliki Petrou announced that she would be stepping down as CEO of Unilever Prestige, a division she founded ten years ago. Petrou made her decision public on LinkedIn, stating that she intends to pursue her longstanding dream of establishing her own investment fund.
Ten years ago, Unilever entrusted Petrou with the task of creating a prestige division from scratch. In 2015, she spearheaded the acquisition of Dermalogica for approximately $1 billion, laying a solid foundation for a robust portfolio of 11 renowned brands. The latest addition to this brand portfolio is the innovative biotech hair care brand K-18 Biomimetic Hair Science.
Under Petrou’s leadership, Unilever’s prestige beauty business achieved net sales of 1.4 billion euros, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12% from 2019 to 2023. Notably, the division has posted 12 consecutive quarters of growth.
Unilever’s prestige beauty business includes ten brands, two of which are poised to reach the 1 billion euro mark: Dermalogica and Paula’s Choice. Five brands have sales exceeding $100 million—Murad, Living Proof, Tatcha, Hourglass, and K-18—while Ren, Kate Somerville, and the French skincare brand Garancia, acquired in 2019, are estimated to have revenues below $50 million.
According to the 2023 financial report, Unilever’s personal care division had sales of 13.8 billion euros, and the beauty and wellbeing division (including prestige products) reached 12.5 billion euros in revenue in 2023.
Despite these successes, some industry analysts believe the division’s growth rate could be accelerated further, noting that it remains primarily focused on the North American market and has been slow in globalizing its brands.
Petrou’s departure comes amid broader strategic changes under Unilever’s CEO Hein Schumacher. Schumacher aims to premiumize Unilever’s product portfolio, emphasizing its billion-euro power brands. In line with this strategy, Unilever announced plans in March to spin off its ice cream business to focus more on beauty, home, and wellbeing sectors. As part of these changes, Priya Nair, previously the global chief marketing officer, has been appointed group president of the beauty and wellbeing division.
