Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! I’m Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning.
During the past decade, the British consumer goods giant Unilever has undergone a transformation. The conglomerate shed its food businesses, selling its margarine and spreads business to KKR in 2019, spinning off Magnum Ice Cream in 2025, and announcing plans to combine its remaining food portfolio—including the Hellmann’s and Knorr brands—with the spice maker McCormick in a transaction that reflects an enterprise value for Unilever of $44.8 billion. The deal is expected to close next year.
The result will be an enterprise that is a pure play in the personal care, beauty, and wellness spaces. Unilever boasts a mix of legacy brands such as Vaseline and newer entrants such as Grüns, the gummy supplement company Unilever acquired earlier this year for a reported $1.2 billion. “Unilever U.S. will become a focused $9.4 billion business, operating in attractive, fast-growing segments,” says Herrish Patel, president of Unilever USA and CEO of Unilever Personal Care North America. “We have a beautiful stable of brands.”
Dove, the personal care brand launched in 1957, offers a case study in how Unilever is seeking to grow through innovation, creative packaging, and what Patel calls “premiumization.” Dove has attracted new users through offbeat collabs with the Netflix bodice-ripper TV show Bridgerton (“The royal treatment every queen deserves”) and Crumbl, a cookie chain.
Getting a little luxe
Dove has also moved slightly upmarket by adding serums, or highly concentrated formulations, to some hair and skincare products. Just don’t expect Dove to stray too far from its core: I recently spotted an 18.5-ounce bottle of Dove Serum+ Hydration body wash on Amazon for $10; a 22-ounce bottle of Deep Moisture body wash was available for just a dollar less.
“I don’t think you can just premiumize without making it relevant for the world we now live in,” Patel says. “The underlying principle for Unilever has always been, ‘We serve all of America.’” Indeed, the company says 90% of American households have purchased a Unilever product in the past year.
Earlier this year the company, whose U.S. headquarters are in Hoboken, New Jersey, announced plans to build a $270 million global innovation center in New Haven, Connecticut, which, when it opens in 2029, will feature a performance lab and testing capabilities.
Adding to the fold
Unilever is complementing research and development and organic growth efforts with acquisitions. In addition to buying Grüns, last year the company purchased Dr. Squatch, a men’s grooming brand, for a reported $1.5 billion. In 2022 it acquired a majority stake in Nutrafol, a hair supplement company. Not every acquisition works out. Unilever acquired Dollar Shave Club in 2006, then sold the razors and skincare company to Nexus Capital Management in 2023, citing a focus on strategic growth areas.
I asked Patel what Unilever is seeking in its acquisition targets, many of which, like Grüns and Nutrafol, were founder-led at the time of purchase. He says Unilever looks for digital brands in fast-growing spaces and for the opportunity to “do something amazing” when an independent brand is combined with Unilever’s scale.
He notes that Dr. Squatch has given a boost to Unilever’s products for men, including Dove Men+Care and Axe. And he says Unilever has taken learnings from Dr. Squatch—leaning into fragrances, for example—and applied them to other parts of the portfolio.
Patel says the mix of science and powerful brands will have another benefit: helping Unilever stand out in a world of agentic commerce, where robots will make buying decisions on behalf of consumers. “I’m confident that in an agentic world, where ratings and reviews matter, big brands with long histories that are built on science will be successful,” he says.
Even CEOs buy soap
Is your household one of the 90% who’ve bought a Unilever product in the past 12 months? When buying consumer goods, what’s the draw: convenience, value, loyalty, or something else? Share your buying habits with me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. And if you’re the founder or CEO of a consumer goods company, what’s your exit strategy: IPO? Sale to a multinational? Or stay independent?
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