Unilever Acquires Dollar Shave Club for $1 Billion

Multinational consumer goods giant Unilever announced this evening that it has signed an agreement to purchase Dollar Shave Club.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in Venice, California, Dollar Shave Club burst on to the scene when they uploaded a YouTube video entitled “Our Blades Are F***ing Great” featuring CEO Michael Dubin.

The video prompted 12,000 orders in a two-day span after it was released and has received almost 23 million views to date.

Dollar Shave Club has grown into a full male grooming business that has transformed the shaving category with its lifestyle brand empowering 3.2 million members. In 2015, DSC had turnover of US$152 million and is on track to exceed US$200 million in turnover in 2016.

While terms of the transaction were not disclosed, Fortune’s Dan Primack is reporting that Unilever paid $1 billion.

Dollar Shave Club founder Dubin will continue to run the company, which will operate its direct-to-consumer razor business as an independent entity. The acquisition should help Dollar Shave Club expand faster into new geographies and significantly improve its distribution abilities in existing markets.