This is Matt Reustle, and today we are breaking down the personal care giant, L'Oreal. Founded in the early 1900s by a French chemist, L'Oreal and its long list of iconic brands have been driving cosmetics innovation for over a century. To break down the business, I am joined by Zehrid Osmani - Head of the Long-Term Unconstrained team at Martin Currie. We cover the history of brand innovation, global expansion, and all of the dynamics that played a role in L'Oreal's success. I'd mention this episode is an excellent pairing with our Founders podcast episode 217 on Estee Lauder. The two dominant players in the beauty market have fascinating beginnings, and their stories clearly aren't over. Please enjoy this breakdown of L'Oreal.   For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss | @ReustleMatt   Show Notes [00:02:27] - [First question] - Origins of L’Oreal and its scientific approach [00:04:01] - Structure and market share of L’Oreal today [00:04:36] - Outline of L’Oreal’s brands and consumer products [00:07:30] - Licensed agreements versus fully owned brands [00:08:48] - Market split between mass market, high-end, and professional products [00:09:31] - Strategy-driven growth by division since 2014 [00:11:03] - Reasons why acquisitions are a key part of L’Oreal’s strategy [00:14:26] - Noteworthy competitors in the same markets [00:16:03] - Sales and marketing strategies within stores and e-commerce [00:19:47] - How L’Oreal deals with the logistical challenges of e-commerce [00:21:59] - Margins and long-term growth [00:24:40] - Overhead costs and the proportion spent on advertising [00:25:57] - Advertising campaigns and legacy of L’Oreal’s advertising strategy [00:30:03] - L’Oreal’s R&D strategy and budget [00:33:09] - Breakthroughs in the development of new products [00:34:42] - L’Oreal’s global presence and price stratification to serve diverse geographies [00:39:59] - The company’s potential future growth opportunities [00:42:19] - Operating margin and profitability over time from an investor’s perspective [00:44:39] - Re-investment in the company versus dividend payout [00:45:14] - More on acquisitions as a piece of the overall model [00:46:25] - Key risk categories for the business  [00:51:43] - L’Oreal’s commitment on sustainability and ESG broadly [00:55:52] - Lessons learned from analyzing L’Oreal

This week and next week we will break down the two biggest levers we have in the fight against climate change. Carbon reduction and carbon removal. Today, we will focus on carbon removal. To break down where we stand and what needs to be done, I’m joined by Nan Ransohoff. Nan is Head of Climate at Stripe and she also leads Frontier, which is an advanced market commitment of some $1 billion to kickstart a market for carbon removal solutions. We discuss the broad climate picture, the state of technology today, and the potential for good if we can scale up low carbon energy sources. Please enjoy this primer on Carbon Removal. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here.   -----   Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes.   Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss | @ReustleMatt   Show Notes [00:02:14] - [First question] - Overview of the presence of carbon in the environment [00:03:35] - Relevant trends in carbon emissions and energy use [00:05:17] - How to handle a continued rise in energy consumption [00:06:49] - Energy demand and electricity grids as supply chains [00:08:09] - Why carbon removal is important [00:09:52] - Current state of carbon capture technology and methods [00:13:10] - Promising carbon removal concepts for the future [00:14:02] - Demand level for carbon removal solutions companies [00:15:22] - Carbon offsets versus proper removal [00:16:53] - Constraints on arable land for removal projects [00:17:24] - How Stripe Climate sparked interest and showed that demand exists [00:21:17] - Logistics of engaging companies to build carbon removal solutions [00:24:39] - Governments are gradually accelerating decarbonization efforts [00:28:03] - Her personal motivations for decarbonization [00:29:49] - Roles of for-profit and nonprofit entities in carbon removal [00:31:50] - Frontier’s philanthropic motives [00:32:16] - The role of geopolitics in global carbon pollution [00:34:31] - Key geophysical attributes of different regions in the world [00:35:24] - Increasing investment in hard tech for climate problems [00:36:57] - Biggest technological players today in the space [00:37:30] - Best and worst potential outcomes of decarbonization efforts [00:39:24] - Resources to learn more and the positive side effects of decarbonization [00:41:58] - Lessons learned from creating a marketplace for carbon removal [00:43:21] - What it’s like working as a climate-focused branch of a big company [00:46:40] - What she’s most excited about in the near future for carbon removal