While social media was busy deconstructing Hailey Bieber’s life, she was building a billion-dollar business.
The 27-year-old model has been a gossip magnet for a decade due to her relationship with Justin, whom she has been married to for six years and shares a son with.
To this day, there’s constant conjecture about whether her marriage is healthy, whether she’s spending enough time with her son and whether her posts are secretly shading Justin’s long-ago ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez, whom she has long been pitted against.
As that chatter persisted — and continues to this moment — Bieber found stealth success building her beauty brand, Rhode, and turning it into a booming business. Its sale to E.L.F. Beauty has been covered far beyond the typical celebrity gossip and beauty sites, elevating her to an influential player in the skin care industry.
The ink is now dry on the deal in a package potentially worth $1 billion — $800 million in cash and stock now, with another $200 million contingent on future growth over three years. There are big plans for Rhode, with its launching in stores for the first time this fall and global expansion, as well as for the founder, who will stay on as the brand’s chief creative officer and head of innovation and strategic adviser to the combined brands.
While the sale doesn’t make her a billionaire — Rhode has cofounders (Lauren and Michael Ratner) and investors splitting the pie, and it’s unclear what percentage stake Bieber had in the company — it’s an impressive feat for a brand that launched less than three years ago. (On June 15, 2022, to be exact.)
Call Bieber a nepo baby or dismiss her for having industry connections through modeling or her husband, but that’s short-sighted.
“A lot of people assume Hailey Bieber is just the face of Rhode, but her marketing instincts tell a very different story — and I think that’s exactly why e.l.f. brought her on as a strategic adviser,”
AvidAI CEO & cofounder Brooke Yoakam, who shares branding and marketing expertise through the Brand Blueprint, tells Yahoo Entertainment, “She’s not just riding trends; she’s setting them.”
‘She’s selling a lifestyle’
Bieber could have been just another star with a side hustle. Instead, she has been credited with innovation.
“What sets Hailey apart is that she’s not just selling skin care, she’s selling a lifestyle,” Yoakam says. “Everything from Rhode’s pop-ups to its packaging to its ‘food marketing’ strategy — naming flavors like ‘Strawberry Glaze’ and ‘Pineapple Refresh’ — shows how deeply involved she is in the creative vision. She understood early how viral food-themed beauty could be and doubled down on it before most brands even clocked the trend.”
Experts say that Bieber’s Rhode has been ahead of beauty trends — and a brand that others copy. (Dave Benett/Getty Images for Rhode)
Not only have Rhode’s products stood out, but they’ve also done so in a saturated marketplace.
“In today’s market, you need either breakout marketing or first-to-market products to win — Rhode has both,” Yoakam explains. “Take the Glazing Milk, for example,” a hydrating makeup prep product. “Hailey was one of the first to push that kind of dewy, skin-barrier-focused product, and now we’re seeing brands scramble to copy it. Then there’s the phone case, which is Rhode’s second-best-selling item — from a skin care brand. That’s not just smart merchandising, it’s cultural relevance. And of course, the Peptide Lip Treatments — yes, Summer Fridays’ came first, but Rhode was the brand that turned it into a daily ritual and aesthetic moment.”
She adds, “When every brand is trying to dupe your products and replicate your brand experiences, that’s not luck, that’s vision.”
The company’s business strategy has been smart — a small number of products that are reasonably priced, a condensed team making for low overhead and a direct-to-consumer model — but its marketing strategy has been even smarter.
The brand’s secret sauce was rolling out a very “media-forward, marketing-forward, viral-forward push” that was “done so beautifully in its execution,” Alexis Androulakis, one half of the Lipstick Lesbians, which decodes beauty marketing and educates consumers about products on social media, tells Yahoo.
A big part of Rhode’s marketing magic can be attributed to Bieber directly. As a celebrity who people love talking about — with a pop star husband who also draws major interest — she has a lot of fans. To put it into social media numbers: On just her personal accounts, she has 55 million Instagram followers, 15.6M on TikTok and 4.3M on Facebook.
“Social media is the reason why Rhode has been this successful,” Sammi Tannor Cohen, host of Social Currency podcast, covering business, culture and branding, tells Yahoo. “Last year, Hailey drove $400 million in earned media value,” or the monetary worth of unpaid exposure a brand receives. “This is wildly impressive.”
Just posting a simple selfie to her grid drives sales.
“She built — we have to talk about it, right? — the coolest iPhone case ever that would hold the Peptide Lip Balm,” Androulakis says. “So that every time she’s taking a selfie — bam — there it is. You’re seeing it.”
Credit also goes to Rhode’s brand ambassador army, which was recruited to post about the brand and products.
“That’s the thing about social,” says Androulakis. “Whether we’re talking about 2014 Glossier, [which] saw success because they had an affiliate army, [or] brands today that are crushing it on TikTok Shop like Tarte, it’s always about these brand evangelists. I think that Rhode did an incredible job building media and marketing sex appeal right … to their audience — and making people want it, even if the Peptide Lip Treatment crystallized, even if the Pocket Blush weren’t shade inclusive initially and even if there were no actives in the skin care.”
E.L.F. chief executive Tarang Amin told the Wall Street Journal that both Rhode and E.L.F. brands also have the benefit of appealing to multiple generations, especially Gen Z.
“Long before launching the brand, she was already idolized for her ‘clean girl’ aesthetic — glowy skin, minimalist makeup, effortlessly cool fashion,” Yoakam says. “She became the blueprint for a generation that craved simplicity, and Rhode made that aesthetic feel attainable.”
Rhode buyers are also trend-obsessed, drawn to pop culture and products that feel like status symbols. They will be online and ready to buy when every new product launches, leading to things selling out in minutes, or literally in line at a pop-up.
These buyers have powered Rhode from startup to sensation in record speed.
“I had never before seen a brand hit acquisition that quickly, especially in a market that was so insanely confused with the tariffs, with the uncertainty, with the unknowns, [in the beauty industry],” Androulakis says. “It just seemed like a really intensely, scary unknown time in the beauty industry and then — bam — we have this massive acquisition of a brand in just about three years total.”
The next billion-dollar celebrity brand
While the Rhode acquisition came as somewhat surprise news — despite it now being known it was being shopped to buyers — what isn’t is the fact that the beauty industry is a significant economic force. Rihanna, Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner all have billion-dollar businesses. So, which celebrity will be next to follow?
“I’m super bullish on celebrity makeup artists and hair care founders,” says Yoakam. “These are the experts celebrities already trust behind the scenes — so when they launch their own brands, they come to market with built-in credibility and proven product expertise. That’s why I believe Makeup by Mario, Patrick Ta and Chris Appleton with Color Wow are strong contenders for the next billion-dollar celebrity beauty exits. I’m also excited about One/Size by Patrick Starrr and Personal Day by Lili Reinhart, [which] have carved out clear niches” — sweat-proof makeup and acne-safe skin care, respectively — “and are winning in them.”
Don’t count out Selena Gomez’s popular beauty brand, which launched in February 2020. It’s been valued at $2 billion, though Gomez has said she has no plans to sell.
Selena Gomez poses in front of a Rare Beauty display at Sephora. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Rare Beauty)
“Of course, everyone is interested in what the future of Rare Beauty entails,” Cohen says. “There have been whispers that they were looking to sell, but since then, the sale process was placed on hold. Their annual revenue is estimated to be in the $350 million range, so they are definitely looking at a sale price over $1 billion.”
Who knows? Maybe it won’t be a traditional celebrity at all.
“I think we have to broaden the definition of celebrity to include influencer,” Androulakis says. “We’re at a really interesting point in history, specifically beauty history, where the greats like Pat McGraths, the Charlotte Tilburys, the François Narses, who were icons and are icons, Gen Alpha doesn’t necessarily know who they are. Gen Z might have a vague idea of who they are. But Gen Z and Gen Alpha surely know who Hailey Bieber is, and surely know who Justin Bieber is, and I think it’s important to make that distinction and understand that the next generation of celebrity is going to be rooted deeply in social.”
She adds, “Fashion and runway and editorial and magazine covers once dictated what was paramount. Today, we can’t ignore the fact that social has disrupted and interrupted that flow.”
And Bieber rode that wave right to the top.
