u/TheQuietCapital

LVMH is apparently exploring selling its stake in Fenty Beauty, which surprised me at first because the brand seems incredibly successful.

But the more I looked into it, the more it feels like a reminder that celebrity brands are still treated like investment assets at the corporate level.

Even when a brand is culturally dominant, large companies are still thinking about portfolio strategy, margins, growth expectations, capital allocation, etc.

It makes me wonder if celebrity beauty brands are becoming long-term businesses now, or are most of them still dependent on the celebrity remaining culturally relevant.

LVMH reportedly exploring a sale of its stake in Fenty Beauty is a good example of how large companies think about brand portfolios differently than the public does.

A brand can be culturally dominant, profitable, and still become a candidate for restructuring or divestment if the capital can be deployed more efficiently elsewhere.

At a certain scale, celebrity brands stop being marketing stories and start being evaluated like portfolio assets.

Drake’s involvement in 100 Thieves is a good example of a brand becoming tied to a lifestyle or identity instead of just selling a product..

On the surface it looks like a celebrity endorsement, but it’s closer to plugging into an existing culture rather than trying to create one from scratch.

The shift is that the brand isn’t only judged on merch or team performance anymore. A lot of the value starts coming from cultural relevance and status.

The downside is that this kind of setup can get fragile if too much of the relevance is tied to one person or moment.

Even with physical assets like their facility, the harder part is still keeping the cultural side of it alive over time.

I was looking into celebrity-backed brands and realized how quiet Jaden has been about JUST Water lately.

Apparently, the brand is doing huge numbers in the sustainability space, and I didn't realize they were moving into "boxed" water at such a massive scale. It’s interesting because he doesn't even put his face on the marketing like most other celebs do.

Do you guys think celebrity brands do better when they actually focus on the "product" instead of the fame, or is this just a lucky niche?