Hailey Bieber sold Rhode to e.l.f. Beauty in a deal worth up to $1 billion after saying her main concern was that the brand would change hands and lose its identity. Bieber said she had heard plenty of stories from founders who regretted acquisitions, and she wanted Rhode to be 'safe where it was going.'
Bieber and co-founder Lauren Ratner launched Rhode in 2022. Three years later, e.l.f. agreed to buy the brand, and Bieber stayed on to lead creative and product innovation alongside Ratner, Rhode's co-founder, president and chief brand officer.
The price was not the deciding factor, Bieber said. Her fear was that after selling the company she would no longer have a major role in the business she helped build from 'literally day zero, ground up.' She said she told e.l.f. at the beginning that she could not imagine stepping back.
According to Bieber, e.l.f. answered by promising to leave the brand alone. Ratner said the pair worried an acquirer might start 'meddling in the business,' but e.l.f. said it was 'not going to fix what’s not broken' and wanted to 'supercharge the back end' while letting the founders keep doing what they did best.
More than a year after the deal, Bieber said the company has kept that promise. When asked which decisions remain hers, she said, 'Pretty much all of them.' She added that e.l.f. has 'really just let us fly and let us continue to make every decision.' Bieber also said her role has grown, with the title of chief creative officer at Rhode and a strategic advisor role to e.l.f. Beauty.
Ratner said the brand needed the scale of a larger partner. Rhode had a 'small, mighty, nimble team,' she said, but had 'taken it as far as we could with that team.' The company was preparing to launch in Sephora, and Ratner said it needed 'the infrastructure of a bigger partner to scale globally.'
Rhode generated roughly $390 million in net sales in fiscal 2026, an 80% increase from the year before, and the company has said it wants to pass $1 billion. Bieber said the deal came as a surprise and that the decision was made together with Ratner and Ratner’s husband, Rhode’s third co-founder.
The market has already voted on the logic of the sale. A brand that can grow fast, protect its founders, and tap a larger distribution network is the kind of asset free enterprise rewards. The lesson is simple: capital works best when it scales what is already working instead of sending in bureaucracy to 'fix' it.
