Honestly sounds like a great idea to Us! Jessica Alba may be selling her Honest Company to global company Unilever for a staggering $1 billion, a new report states.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the actress’s lifestyle brand, which she started in 2011, is valued somewhere between $1 billion and $1.7 billion, and Unilever PLC is eager to acquire it.
Unilever currently makes Dove soaps and Axe body sprays, and recently put down $1 billion to buy Dollar Shave Club, a startup that offers subscribers disposable razors shipped to their home for a flat monthly fee.
Honest Co.’s emphasis on “natural” and “green” cleaning products would be a welcome addition to Unilever’s line of goods, the WSJ reports, because it does not currently carry other competing brands.
The Mechanic: Resurrection star, 35, started the company with Brian Lee, Christopher Gavin and Sean Kane in 2011 with the idea to sell natural, sustainable baby, beauty and household products for the home, and has reportedly raised more than $200 million from investors over the last few years.
The brand hasn’t been without blemishes, however. In September 2014, a class action lawsuit was filed against the company, claiming that the Honest Co. SPF 30 sunscreen did not have enough zinc oxide in it, leaving many users sunburned.
Honest Co. was hit with another lawsuit several weeks later, claiming that the brand “deceptively and misleadingly labeled and marketed its products” by calling them “natural.”
Alba stood by the brand, saying in a statement at the time, “We strongly stand behind our products and the responsibility we have to our consumers. We are steadfast in our commitment to transparency and openness.”
