How Hailey Bieber Rhode made in a $ 1 billion success story

Copyright © HT Digital Streams Limit all rights reserved. Chavie Lieber, The Wall Street Journal 13 min Read 15 Oct 2025, 07:24 AM IT When I returned to the same Sephora a few days later, the store was practically wiped off Rhode’s moisturizers, serums and blushes. (Bloomberg) Summary Bieber joined a growing class of beauty supermoguls this year when her brand sold for $ 1 billion to eleven Cosmetics. She’s just running. On an early September morning in New York, Hailey Bieber’s beauty mark, Rhode, was a few hours away from the launch at Sephora. A staff opened a video camera and began filming downtown of the city center food cars and street traffic-for B-roll on Instagram. Next to her, an employee with a digital camera takes a recording of the giant photo of Bieber with a view of the Times Square Storefront. Suddenly, Bieber walks to the seventh lane in a plunged silver magazine and miniskirt, her hair slides back into a sandwich and her moisturized face glows behind sunglasses. The crowd broke in a cheer as she pulled a curtain off the store. Inside, Bieber cried for photos with Sephora Associates and Tiktox filmed. All of this content would soon comment millions of likes, shares and comments. It will also sell many products. When I returned to the same Sephora a few days later, the store was practically cleaned of Rhode’s moisturizers, serums and blushes. I saw a little girl with a British accent almost breaking tears. “There’s no more blush of Haaayley Biebaaa!” She cries for her mother. In the three years since Hailey Bieber Rhode debuted, it has become one of Beauty’s more influential labels. Tom Ford -Top and dress, Kalfa -Hak and her own ring (worn throughout). In the three years since Bieber debuted her brand, Rhode became one of Beauty’s more influential labels. Buyers buy his milky tonic and sticky lip gloss for the chance to lubricate Bieber’s vibes in their skin. This is the same attractiveness that dropped buyer $ 20 on a Hailey Bieber Erewhon Smoothie, or bought any piece of clothing she fitted. “She looks so good, I just want to look the same,” says Marie Shim, a 25-year-old engineer in New York. Shim dropped everything to run to Times Square for Rhode’s Sephora launch. She waited about an hour to use the Rhode Photo Booth and buy one of the brand’s lip colors, which according to her wives was obsessed with her age. In 2022, Rhode entered a crowded market of celebrity beauty and rose above the tide. By March this year, the brand said it hit $ 212 million to net sales. In May, eleven Cosmetics announced that it acquired the brand for $ 1 billion, and Bieber added to a growing class of beauty supermoguls. “Most fame marks fail because it’s just a celebrity that lends their name,” says Tarang Amin, CEO of eleven. ‘It’s a real brand. She’s all in. ‘ If Hailey Bieber is honest, she was not always sure that she would be embraced as a beauty entrepreneur. “I felt that a lot of people didn’t like me. I still feel that way, ‘says Bieber, 28. This is the day after the launch of the Sephora, and we have lunch in a Tribeca restaurant near her New York apartment. She wears a vintage leather Gucci jacket and $ 890 flip-flops out of the row, her hair pulls back into a pink clamp. A massive oval diamond glitters on her ring finger, which is filled with fine tattoo. We drink ice cream and trade photos of our babies. Bieber woke up early in the morning to ring the bell at the New York Stock Exchange with the eleven Cosmetics team. Earlier in the day, her husband, Justin, dropped a new album, Swag II. Mental Health, Finance, Marriage Rumors – Some of the Biebers’ personal affairs have been widely investigated. Did the Rhode Acquisition and the launch of the album of negative attention rejected the couple? “No,” Bieber says dry. “But we both really find our voices of who we are, and I believe that both really walk authentically in what we really want to do.” “I don’t feel competitive with people I’m not inspired by,” Bieber says. Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello jacket, sweater and shorts. When Bieber raised her idea for a skin care brand in 2020, she had already built a large audience as one of the fashion and beauty’s most popular faces. She sat next to her friends and fellow famous models, the Jenners and Hadids, and inspired millions of beauty statues with her glowing ‘glazed donut’ skin. Tiktok even came up with a name for her fresh, minimal make -up appearance: ‘Clean girl.’ In building her business, Bieber says she does not want a licensing agreement or cooperation with an existing brand. “I borrowed my name enough times to see how it benefited the company,” she says, cutting her chicken sequard. “I knew that if I did, I should be the majority owner.” Bieber approached Michael D. Ratner, a friend and founder of the Entertainment Studio OBB Media, who worked with the Biebers on documentary films, to be a partner in the business. Ratner joined Rhode as co-founder and executive chairman, and co-founder Lauren Rothberg, now the Ratner’s wife, worked on brand and marketing. Rhode rented veteran beauty chemist Ron Robinson and New York dermatologist Dhaval Bhanusali. Bieber wasn’t always sure if she would be embraced as a beauty entrepreneur. “I felt that a lot of people didn’t like me. I still feel that way, ‘she says. Calvin Klein Collection Dress. Rhode was launched in September 2022 with a serum, a moisturizer and a lip treatment, all enveloped in monochromatic gray packaging. Bieber says all these offers were her idea. “I test them on my husband, I test them on my friends,” she says. “I’m a product obsession.” The company holds on to a small number of beauty products that are often sold out. Rhode also dropped items with limited expenses to fuel the hype. After a lip gloss cooperation with Krispy Kreme, Ratner remembers that he received a note from the Donut CMO and said, “He has never seen anything like that.” I ask if Bieber feels competitive now that her products have to rise against other Sephora brands. “I think there’s room for everyone,” she says. She is most competitive with herself, she adds. “I don’t feel competitive with people I’m not inspired by.” “I knew that if I did, I had to be the majority owner,” she says about building her business. Ferragamo -dress. Is she nervous that Sephora buyer can compare Rhode to Rare Beauty, the trademark of Selena Gomez who was also sold at Sephora? Fans have suggested that there is a rivalry between the two; Gomez Justin when they were younger. Before she can respond, a publishist says in the area, she says to skip the question. “It’s always annoying to set up against other people. I didn’t ask for it, ‘Bieber said later. “If people want to see you in a certain way and make them a story about you in their minds, it’s not up to you to change it.” Before she was a Bieber, Hailey was a Baldwin. She is the second born daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin and graphic designer Kennya Deodato, and she was raised in the suburb of Nyack, New York, where she took ballet lessons and most of her youth was homeschooling. She practiced in dance for 12 years, but it was a career in modeling that found her at the age of 16. She signed Ford Models in 2014 and started working with brands such as Topshop and Tommy Hilfiger. “I’m still the one who tests all the products, I’m still the one who sits in the product development meetings,” Bieber said. Tory Burch Dress and Kalfa Heels. Bieber says she paid close attention to the products used by makeup artists and facialists to prepare her skin before he and shows shoot. “I could grind in skin care, is actually simple, and less is much more,” she says. She met Justin when they were children, and they later dated for a few years. Then, suddenly, in 2018, they were back in public again, and by the end of the year they tied the knot. Her high-profile associations led some Bieber to describe a ‘Nepo baby’, a phrase she embraced; In 2023 she was photographed with a white T-shirt with the words rubbed over her chest. As far as her business is concerned, Bieber claims that her success deserves heavy. She says she invested her own money in Rhode and took money from investors. She refuses to say who her investors were or how much of the company she owns. What is incompetent is that Bieber has changed the way many young women think about makeup and skincare. “It’s all about heavier make-up and a complete coverage foundation, of which she has moved away,” said Brianna Renee Price, a 27-year-old content creator in Toronto. “What sucked me in was to get the dew look,” said Haley Vintson, 30, a nurse in labor and delivery in Chelsea, Alabama. “Everyone wants to look hydrated.” “If people want to see you in a certain way and make them a story about you in their minds, it’s not the responsibility of you to change it,” Bieber says. Tom Ford Top and Skirt and Calf Heels. The brand only made direct sales for its first three years, but at Rhode pop-ups in certain cities, Ratner says, Ratner says his team saw the rage firsthand women and girls waiting for hours to take pictures within the brand activations. An extension to blush and lip pencils that bears cute names like sleepy girl and freckles helped Rhode’s income to climb. In 2023, the net sales of Rhode tripled, the company said. Fans became wild for Rhode’s cream blush, and sales showed that “just how big this business could become,” Ratner says. The arrival of Rhode’s largest innovation – an iPhone case of $ 38 with a slot for lip gloss – has formed much of the internet to lose their minds. “I literally upgraded my phone so I could get this matter,” said one Tiktoker when the case was launched in February last year. Rhode sold over 700,000 telephone cases, the company said. “We put something in people’s hands that they don’t know they need or wanted,” Bieber says proudly. Not all Rhode products were hits. The company had to reformulate its peptide lip treatment after clients complained that the texture became granular. “It’s something that still haunts me,” Bieber says. Rhode solved the problem, she says, and she looks back at the experience as a lesson. “Even if you have done all the testing and check all the boxes you need, there are still things that can happen unexpectedly with formulas and production.” “If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it the best I can do and focus on one thing,” she says. “I don’t want to build a million brands just to build it.” Givenchy by Sarah Burton Coat and Pants and A. Emery Shoes. Hannah Campbell, an 18-year-old content creator in South Jersey who buys Rhode and also received products from the brand, says she has no Rhode products especially revolutionary, but says the vibes have moved her in. ‘You have to give their marketing credit because it is so aesthetic. You almost want to eat Rhode. ‘ Some celebrities start several companies to hedge their bets – the necessary alcohol brand, an active clothing label. Bieber says she “puts every egg in this basket.” “If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it best I can possibly do and focus on one thing,” she says. “I don’t want to build a million brands just to build it.” As the Rhode team worked on the eleven acquisition about seven months, Bieber switched to her new role as a mother at the same time. Her son, Jack Blues, was born in August 2024. Bi Eber admits that she probably pushed herself to get back into the swing of things too soon. She did a Rhode shooting only three months after birth. Becoming a mother made her more of a domestic floor, Bieber says. She remembers planning a dinner with girlfriends and insisting on 18:00 so she is back for bedtime. “I feel like the time has just become so precious,” she says. “Having kids makes you realize that.” Bieber still modeled and remained very sought after by brands. “It doesn’t matter if the customer in Automotive, Hospitality, CPG is not – she’s always on the list,” says Ashlee Margolis, whose company, the A -list, broker trading and fame offers. “And she’s on the peak.” She spends her standby with her son and creates fashionboard on Pinterest under a secret name. It is usually late at night that she has “brains shower” over Rhode. “I will lie in bed at about 1 o’clock in the morning and write down something. You can ask my team; They get a text message at 2 o’clock in the morning and I’m like, ‘Ignore it until the morning! ” Given the world’s attention to the family, Bieber says that her son’s privacy is a priority. The couple does not post pictures of him and is careful about where they bring him. “Until your child can understand it and it is possible to talk about it, I have no interest in placing him there in any way,” she says. I ask her how the money from the Rhode Sale will affect her life, and the conversation comes back to Jack. “I want to keep it for the future of my son,” she says. “It’s an amount I haven’t handled before, so I just want to be smart with it. I want to invest it wisely. ‘ Bieber says his work since his 19 -year -old with the same business manager. Bieber feels that she has developed a new “cruelty” in motherhood. “I like who I am so much more than I did before I had my son,” she says. ‘You gain this silent power and confidence. You can’t tell me the same – what you could tell me before. You are not with me, after pushing a person out of my body. ‘ “I feel like the time has just become so precious,” she says. “Having kids makes you realize that.” Miu Miu top and skirt. While some entrepreneurs prefer to walk away after paying off acquisitions, Bieber says she lives with Rhode as a founder and chief creative and innovation officer. She says the team was looking for a buyer who wanted to keep her and the team on board. “I never wanted to sell my business and wipe my hands clean and walk away from it,” she says. “I’m still the one who tests all the products, I’m still the one who sits in the product development meetings.” She has also joined eleven as a strategic adviser and will lend ideas to the makeup giant. I joke that Rhode may have to do a series of baby products, and Bieber admits it’s something she thought about. In addition to the fact that she covers her with ice every night, she now moisturizes her son with French pharmacy lotions. “My baby goes to bed every night like a baby -glazed donut,” she says. “I’m taking him.” Header Video: Owen Smith-Clark for WSJ. Magazine; Hair, James Pecis using Blu & Green; Makeup, EMI Kanko using Rhode; Manicure, Dawn Sterling; Set design, patience harding; Production, Casa projects. Write to Chavie Lieber on chavie.lieber@wsj.com, catch all the business news, market news, news reports and latest news updates on live currency. Download the Mint News app to get daily market updates. More Topics #Genitstate Read the following story

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