Charlotte Tilbury Is Selling Her Brand to Puig, Slice by Slice

Most founders sell once. Charlotte Tilbury is selling in installments. Puig took control of her makeup company in 2020, bought a little more in 2024, a little more again in May 2026, and has a contract to take the rest by 2031. She is still running the company the whole time. “I am fully convinced of the value and potential that is still to be created and captured,” she said when the schedule was extended, per Cosmetics Business.

At a glance

The makeup artist who became the brand

Tilbury was born in London in 1973 and grew up in Ibiza, per Wikipedia. She started as an assistant to the makeup artist Mary Greenwell and became a runway makeup director for houses including Prada and McQueen. Her own brand launched at Selfridges in London in 2013 with makeup and skincare, and a Covent Garden flagship followed in 2015.

How the sale has worked

In June 2020 Puig bought 76.40% of Prado Investments, the holding company that controlled 73.11% of Charlotte Tilbury, per FashionUnited. It bought out Prado’s remaining owner, BDT Champion Holdings, in March 2024, and on July 25, 2024 paid about €214.81 million for a further 5.4% of Charlotte Tilbury itself, reaching 78.5%.

In December 2024 the two sides rewrote the timetable. Instead of options running to the end of 2025, Puig would assume full ownership progressively until early 2031, with call and put options exercisable between 2026 and 2031 at a price set as a multiple of the business’s key financial metrics, Cosmetics Business reported. “In 2020, we established a partnership that has been pivotal in shaping our success,” Tilbury said.

The 2026 installment came in May. A UK registry filing made on June 2 showed share transactions dated May 21, and El Economista put Puig’s new stake at nearly 85%, per FashionUnited. Puig had told investors in February that it had set aside about €351.35 million for 2026 option obligations. Next in Beauty reports the purchase at €350 million and ties its timing to the collapse, weeks earlier, of Puig’s merger talks with The Estée Lauder Companies. It says the sticking points included keeping Charlotte Tilbury independent and how to treat the founder’s stake. The sellers in May have not been officially named in anything we could open.

What each slice says the company is worth

Puig has never published a valuation of the whole company, but the 2024 purchase gives one. €214.81 million for 5.4% implies about €3.98 billion for 100% of Charlotte Tilbury Beauty, by our arithmetic. The May 2026 numbers are softer: if roughly €350 million bought the 6.5 points between 78.5% and “nearly 85%,” the implied figure is about €5.4 billion. Both rest on reported, rounded figures, and a minority slice is not priced like a full takeover. Treat them as a range, not a valuation.

What founders can take from it

• Selling control does not have to mean leaving. Six years after selling a majority, Tilbury is still President, Chairman and CEO.
• A staged exit prices the company every time. Options tied to financial metrics mean each tranche is worth more if the brand keeps growing, which gives the founder a reason to stay and grow it.
• A minority stake is still a vote. Next in Beauty reports that her stake was one of the issues in the failed Estée Lauder talks.

Related founders

• Shay Mitchell Sold Half of BÉIS. Her Job Didn’t Change.: another founder-led consumer brand selling control and keeping the founder in the job.
• Lucy Aylen Sold Control of Her Brand. She Kept the Top Job.: the same trade at a smaller scale.
• Iskra Lawrence Is Selling Control of Saltair. She Keeps a Title.: a 2026 beauty sale where the founder’s new role tells you where the value sits.
• Simon Porte Jacquemus Sold 5% of Jacquemus. He Kept Control.: a founder who let Puig in, then bought it back out.

Sourcing: the 2020, March 2024 and July 2024 stake transactions, the €214.81 million price, the December 2024 option window, Puig’s €351.35 million provision and the May 21, 2026 registry filing are per FashionUnited (July 2026), which relays El Economista for the nearly-85% figure. The option terms, Tilbury’s titles and both of her quotes are per Cosmetics Business (Julia Wray, December 18, 2024). The €350 million May purchase and the Estée Lauder context are per Next in Beauty (July 17, 2026). Biography is per Wikipedia. The implied valuations are our own arithmetic from those reported figures. We could not open Puig’s own release (it blocked our request). No portrait is used.