L'Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus on How a 114 Year-Old Beauty Giant Stays Relevant

L'Oréal is a longstanding giant in the consumer beauty industry. And despite being 114 years-old, the company shows no signs of slowing down. The L'Oréal group has a portfolio of 37 international brands, more than 87,000 employees and 20 research centers across 11 countries around the world. In 2022, the L'Oréal group generated $42 billion in revenue, a 10% year-over-year increase. Nicolas Hieronimus, who first joined the company in 1987, took over as CEO of L'Oréal in 2021. He is only the sixth person in the company's history to hold the title, and he is keenly focused on keeping the century-old beauty company relevant in a rapidly changing world. In this episode of Leadership Next, Hieronimus sits down with host Michal Lev-Ram to talk about L'Oréal's evolution into a "beauty tech" company and how it uses tech both in its consumer-facing products and in its internal R & D operations. He also discusses the luxury brands responsible for L'Oréal's historic 2022 revenue growth and how L'Oreal goes about strategically acquiring brands. Additionally, Hieronimus shares more about L'Oréal's sustainability efforts, using TikTok to gather consumer feedback and track beauty trends, and how he works to keep L'Oréal's core culture in place despite having employees scattered all over the world. Leadership Next is powered by Deloitte.