Edgewell acquires women's razor maker Billie for $310 million
- Dan Primack, author of Axios Pro Rata
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Edgewell, the Connecticut-based maker of Schick razors, acquired DTC women's razor maker Billie for $310 million in cash.
Why it matters: This is the final move of an antitrust chess match in which Billie was a pawn.
Backstory: Billie agreed in early 2020 to be acquired by Gillette owner Procter & Gamble, with lots of industry chatter that the deal was primarily designed to put regulatory pressure on Edgewell's agreement to buy Harry's for $1.37 billion.
- And it worked. Yes, P&G also got blocked by the FTC from buying Billie, but that was a small price to pay.
- Billie had raised $35 million in VC funding from firms like Silverton Partners, Goldman Sachs, Female Founders Fund, Lakehouse Ventures, Serena Ventures and ACME Capital.
The bottom line: "Billie will continue to be led by its co-founders, Georgina Gooley and Jason Bravman .... Edgewell expects the acquisition to be slightly positive to Edgewell's adjusted earnings per share during fiscal 2022. Billie plans to expand into brick-and-mortar retail next year." — Jonathan Roeder, Bloomberg
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