The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 22 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Krause: Scrub Daddy will only sell to major CPG or IPO
“Selling this to, like, XYZ private equity firm doesn't tick it for me, and I have no interest in that. This needs to go to the right home at some point, and that needs to be one of the largest companies in the world in the CPG space. That needs to be a Procter…”
Tsai Believes Tatcha Would Have Shut Down During Pandemic Without Unilever Acquisition
“If we were independent, I think there's a very good chance we'd be shutting down the company right now.”
Hochschuler: Unilever initiated unsolicited acquisition talks with Talenti in 2013
“Unilever actually came to us. They came to us in 13, they said this is the call you've been waiting for, and said, we want to buy your business, and we're like, well, it's not for sale. We're not selling. And that started this, at least a year, I think it was …”
Ramadan: Promising post-acquisition stability destroys startup employees' psychological safety
“One huge mistake that we, that I made Is post acquisition, we wrongfully and maybe naively painted a picture of there won't be change or the change will only be good, right? They're going to grow our sales and everything else will stay the same. And so we, in …”
Boyd: Getting acquired does not instantly scale a brand overnight
“While scaling will happen, it's not, oh, you acquire, you get acquired and like, poof, you're an overnight sensation. Like it's not, it doesn't work that quickly.”
Founders declined seats on the post-acquisition social mission board
“There was going to continue to be an independent board in the new entity that oversaw the social mission, and I think Ben and I could have remained on that board, and we both chose not to.”
Unilever's acquisition offer left the Ben & Jerry's board no alternative
“Well, it was a public company which meant that anybody could own shares, and Unilever ended up offering so much money that the board of the company couldn't find an alternative for the shareholders that they thought was acceptable.”
About 80% of Dollar Shave Club's 300 employees are recent hires
“Something like, you know, 80% of our, you know, three hundred-ish employees are new within the last 18 months.”
Unilever must maintain Ben & Jerry's activism to preserve brand equity
“You know, if Unilever bought a brand and bought the goodwill that goes along with that brand and bought the reputation that goes along with that brand, they need to continue those activities in order to keep that brand strong.”
Unilever's buyout offer was so high the board had to accept it
“Well, it was a public company which meant that anybody could own shares, and Unilever ended up offering so much money that the board of the company couldn't find an alternative for the shareholders that that they thought was acceptable.”
Talenti reached $245 million in annual sales by the end of 2016
“And so by the end of 16, we had hit two hundred and forty five million in sales, and it was extremely profitable, and they got what they paid for.”
Wise: L'Oréal, Unilever, and Bumble and Bumble sought curl partnerships
“And then hair companies started coming after me and L'Oreal wanted me to work with them with their Garnier line and Bumble and Bumble were there. And then all of a sudden a lot of companies, Unilever I worked with. To help out with their product line in Latin …”
Ramadan: Sir Kensington's was unprofitable prior to its acquisition
“But then the truth is, we weren't profitable, and so when you're not profitable, you have an end date to your cash, and you can either keep raising money, you can find a way to make your business profitable, or you can sell it.”
Ramadan: Acquisition deal champions differ significantly from day-to-day integration staff
“The reality of any deal is there is a big difference between your deal champions who acquire your business and the on the ground people who you have to work with day to day.”
Norton: Sir Kensington's board would have advised against Unilever meeting
“Our board would have told us not to take the meeting.”
Norton: Unilever's 400-person sales force tripled Sir Kensington's business post-acquisition
“We went from having a retail sales team of four people to Unilever's sales team of 400 people spread across these 50 states, and so together with the team and with Unilever's fantastic team, the size of Sir Kensington's tripled.”
Venture funds linked to Ben & Jerry's founders invested $300,000 in Guayakí
“And it turned out when they sold to Unilever, they created two small venture fund, two, five million dollar funds, one run by Pierre Ferrari called hot fudge and one run by Chuck Lacey called Bardrock. And so they were both our first bigger investor, bigger me…”
Boyd: Unilever kept The Laundress operating independently post-acquisition
“The way that they work is that they really are adamant about keeping the brand separate, but obviously joined, but separate in the sense where we're still have our same office. We still have all the same employees and Our DNA looks and feels the same. We have …”
Chappell: Tom's of Maine succeeded by stealing market share from CPG giants
“The reason I was successful at Tom's of Maine is because I took market share away from Colgate, Procter & Gamble, and Unilever. So when you can take market share away from the commodities by an alternative approach to that product development and that product …”
Cohen and Greenfield refused to serve on Unilever's social mission board
“There was going to continue to be an independent board in the new entity that oversaw the social mission, and I think Ben and I could have Remained on that board, and we both chose not to.”