The skincare guru who sold out to Unilever and lived to tell the tale

When Kate Somerville was told the skincare brand she founded in 2004 was being sold by its private equity owners to Unilever, she initially had reservations. But after meeting Alan Jope, who went on to be Unilever’s chief executive, and Peter Gallagher, the company’s head of research and development in its skincare division, the American entrepreneur relaxed. “I felt we had the same values,” said Somerville.
But the feeling was not universal. She says her friend Leonard Lauder, the American billionaire son of Estée Lauder, told her of his reservations. “He was nervous about Unilever. He told me, ‘I don’t know if you should do this. I’m scared you’re going to get lost in a big company.’”
The deal, for an undisclosed sum, went ahead in May 2015 with the brands Kate Somerville and REN, another upmarket skincare company, forming the basis for Unilever’s Prestige brands division, which is now also home to cosmetics labels including Dermalogica, Tatcha, Hourglass and Living Proof. The group had a turnover of €1.4 billion last year.
Has the marriage been a happy one, despite Lauder’s misgivings? Somerville is generally upbeat and says that she was initially grateful for the opportunity to step away from the day-to-day running of the brand while retaining an ambassadorial role and an involvement with new product development. Prior to the sale in 2015 Somerville was, she says, “near to burning out”.
She was also thankful for Unilever’s deep pockets when Covid hit. Alongside the products business, the brand still operates her clinic in the heart of West Hollywood, which shut for a year and a half. “They paid our entire staff. If it was just me I would have had to close the clinic,” said Somerville.
But like most marriages, it has not been entirely smooth sailing, with Lauder’s words ringing in Somerville’s ears. “We’ve had a turnover of five CEOs in the last nine years, so that’s been difficult for me because there’s not been much consistency. And the Prestige division has bought a lot of brands fast to scale up, and I was a small brand compared to the other brands they were buying, like Dermalogica.”
Has she been tempted to go back as chief executive herself? Somerville said she “tried several times” and that she “begged” Vasiliki Petrou, the former Unilever Prestige chief executive, to put her in the top job after Reuben Carranza vacated the role in 2022. “I was like, ‘Put me in, coach,’ but she just wasn’t comfortable with that idea.”
Somerville’s passion for skincare can be traced back to her childhood when the stress of a turbulent home life aggravated her eczema. “I was a volleyball player so when I sweat it would burn and itch,” recalled Somerville, who grew up on a farm with her father after her alcoholic mother abandoned her when she was nine. Adding goat’s milk to her bath would soothe Somerville’s eczema rashes, an antidote she returned to years later. A goat’s milk cleanser and moisturiser are among her bestsellers today.
She moved out of home aged 15, first to live with a friend and then a boyfriend, before moving to Cambria, a seaside village in California when she was 20. There she had three waitressing jobs before a dermatologist friend recommended that Somerville consider a career in skincare. After attending an esthetician school, she rented a room in a plastic surgeon’s office offering medical-grade facials and other treatments, before opening her clinic in Melrose Place, Los Angeles, in 2004.
Her client list was like a who’s who of Hollywood, including the actresses Jessica Alba, Demi Moore and Meghan Markle, long before she married Prince Harry and became the Duchess of Sussex. Somerville decided to launch her product range after one of her A-list clients called to say she was heading overseas to a film set and asked to take an exfoliator, one of the products Somerville had created to use in her facials, with her. This is how the brand’s bestseller to this day — ExfoliKate — was born.
Demand for Somerville’s products soared after they were chosen to appear in the Oscars goodie bags in 2005, leading to an army of celebrity fans. Somerville says Paris Hilton, the hotel heiress and reality television celebrity, “was probably my biggest supporter. She went to Japan and they were like, ‘What’s your beauty secret?’ And she said, ‘Kate Somerville’. And all of these Japanese people started calling.” Hilton would also carry Kate Somerville branded bags when she knew she was likely to encounter the paparazzi. “I was in US Weekly and People every week.”
At this point Somerville had five products including a face wash, moisturiser and a sunscreen, but it was still a kitchen-table business with her and her husband hand-filling all the bottles at home. Then upmarket department stores Saks and Nordstrom called. “They were like, ‘We want to carry your line’. I didn’t even know how to do that so I called a bunch of people I knew in beauty and said, ‘I need someone who understands retail’. And I found two people to help.”
Ramping up production would also require deeper pockets than her own or those of her original partner, a client who invested “tens of thousands” of dollars to help her get started. In 2007, JH Partners, a private equity firm based in San Francisco, acquired a controlling stake in the brand. “Some founders have really good experiences with their private equity but I didn’t do enough research. I was too naive,” said Somerville.
Despite the relationship coming under strain, the Kate Somerville brand was on the up. This was largely thanks to appearances on the TV shopping channel QVC, which turbocharged sales, said Somerville. “QVC paid the bills. In retail, you’ll sell maybe 30 units if you’re lucky in a week whereas you go on QVC and you’re selling 80,000 units in one day. One time we did $5.8 million [in sales] in 24 hours.” But juggling the constant appearances on QVC — filmed in a studio “in the middle of nowhere” in Pennsylvania — with still doing treatments in her clinic, spearheading new product development, and looking after her young son took its toll.
She and JH Partners agreed to put the brand up for sale and in 2015 it was bought by Unilever. While most founders opt for an earn-out period, where they’re incentivised to stay with the buyer often for a period of two to three years, Somerville still works for Unilever ten years later. “It is unheard of,” she said of her tenure.
The arrangement might be about to change. Sky News reported in August that Unilever had put Kate Somerville and REN up for sale. Unilever has declined to comment and a spokesman said it was “market speculation”.
Does she have any advice for other entrepreneurs looking to sell their businesses, either to private equity or trade buyers?
“Know exactly what you want,” she says. “Make sure you get enough money up front so if they say, ‘See ya’, you’re OK and you’re happy. And make sure you’re spiritually ready to go and ready to take on a different role. Entrepreneurs are control freaks and then people start making decisions and you’re like, ‘No!’ Some of them work out and some of them don’t. It’s a journey to let go.”