Earth Friendly Burt's Bees is Sold to Clorox

The Clorox company announced in late October 2007 that it will pay $925 million in cash for the privately held Burt's Bees, a company that makes all natural personal care products. Consumers who have come to trust the products and corporate vision of Burts Bees wonder what the future holds for the natural lip balms and lotions they enjoy.

Burts Bees is an American Dream of a company with a homespun story dating back to 1984. That's when Roxanne Quimby and Burt Shavitz teamed up in Maine. Burt lived in a refurbished turkey coop and ran a little honey business off the thirty hives of bees he kept. Roxanne was an out of work waitress making ends meet by buying and selling goods at flea markets and yard sales.

When Roxanne discovered that Burt had years worth of beeswax stored away, she suggested they make candles from it and sell them. Their first craft fair netted them $200.

From there it was a steady rise upward for Burts Bees. Roxanne ventured into experimenting with personal care products after she obtained a 19th century book of home recipes and that sent Burts Bees in a new direction. In 1991 the company incorporated and also started manufacturing their signature lip balm. The distinctive round metal container with the bee logo is their number one selling product.

In 1993 Burts Bees decided to focus solely on personal care products and made the move to North Carolina. Even though the company re-located for business reasons, Roxanne used some of the Burts Bees profits to purchase tracts of forest land in Maine to protect the land from being commercially developed.

Burts Bees announced $250 million in sales in 2006, with the manufacture of over 150 different natural personal care products. Burts Bees products can be found in retail stores across the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The company remains dedicated to natural personal care products containing no petroleum or artificial preservatives. The packaging comes from recycled materials.

Such a success story as Burts Bees is a heartwarming tale of the cultural American Dream. Clorox has announced in a company press release that "Burt's Bees president and CEO, John Replogle, will continue to lead the company, which will continue to be based in North Carolina." Only time will tell if Clorox, as the new corporate owner, will maintain the "earth-friendly" vision of Burt and Roxanne and their bees.

sources:
Andrew Farrell, "Clorox to Buy Burt's Bees", Forbes.com
Roxanne Quimby, "The Burt's Bees Story", BurtsBees.com
Clorox Company Press Release, "Clorox to Acquire Burts Bees", thecloroxcompany.com