
L'Oréal to Acquire British Skincare Brand Medik8
Medik8, which was founded in 2009 by Elliot Isaacs, sells science-backed serums that are designed to preserve and restore skin, including its popular Liquid Peptides ($66) and Crystal Retinal ($85) ranges. It has a production and research facility in Buckinghamshire, England, where it manufactures its products.
In 2021, Medik8 was acquired by private equity firm Inflexion. Sales reached $70 million to $80 million in 2024, following a push into the US market.
Science-backed skincare has been a boon for L'Oréal, which also owns other 'dermocosmetics' brands like the mass lines Cerave and La Roche Posay, as well prestige names like Skinceuticals and Skinbetter Science.
'We share a strong belief in Medik8's global potential,' said Cyril Chapuy, president of L'Oréal Luxe, in a statement.
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Beauty's Top M&A Targets for 2025
After a slow year for acquisitions, brands and investors alike are hoping that 2025 will yield bigger exits. But with most strategic buyers like L'Oréal operating with an even narrower lens, only a select few firms will make it across the finish line.
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Newsweek
19 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Haas F1 Team Receives Purchase Offers: 'Really pushing'
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu has opened up on the numerous offers people made in the last 18 months to purchase the American outfit, with some even "pushing" to seal a deal, as Haas enters its tenth year in Formula One. He also highlighted the role of team owner Gene Haas and his dedication to keeping the team on the F1 grid. Komatsu has been a part of Haas since its F1 journey began in 2016, standing by through its highs and lows. The team witnessed huge challenges in the Covid-19-affected year of 2020, with struggles continuing through to the 2023 season when Haas finished last in the Constructors' Championship. Then-team principal Guenther Steiner was ousted ahead of the 2024 season, the year in which Haas witnessed significant progress under Komatsu. The managerial changes and failures from 2023 prompted several parties to approach Gene with offers to buy the team. However, Komatsu emphasized that Gene is passionate about F1 and has no interest in selling the team. Haas F1 Team's British driver Oliver Bearman takes part in the first practice session ahead of the Formula One British Grand Prix at the Silverstone motor racing circuit in Silverstone, central England, on July 4,... Haas F1 Team's British driver Oliver Bearman takes part in the first practice session ahead of the Formula One British Grand Prix at the Silverstone motor racing circuit in Silverstone, central England, on July 4, 2025. More BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images Opening up on his upcoming run with Gene at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in a Haas VF-23 F1 car to celebrate the team's tenth anniversary, Komatsu said ahead of the British GP: "This year when he [Gene] came to Miami, I could see that he actually enjoyed just being there. "He always asks lots of technical questions because he's interested, but that hasn't changed. On top of that, he was just enjoying the occasion. "I thought, wow, I'm going to ask him if he wants to drive in Goodwood. He didn't know much about Goodwood, but now he's driving, he read about it, and he's really excited for him to again experience things like that." Addressing the pushy offers that came Gene's way to acquire Haas, Komatsu added: "Honestly, he's seen lots of changes. He's so engaged now. He understands the details as well. What's the best way to put it? He's always been very passionate about the sport and the result. He always wants us to improve, which is what we need from the owner. He was always behind us. "I don't know everything, but in the last 18 months he's had numerous offers to buy the team. He's not interested. He really enjoys being the owner of the F1 team. Currently one out of 10, from next year one out of 11. That's such a privileged position to be in. "He came in at a time when F1 wasn't like this. He stuck with us during such a difficult period of COVID. Now he's enjoying it. "Honestly, Gene's so committed. He's coming here [to Silverstone], obviously. He's arriving Friday or tomorrow and then staying for Goodwood. He's enjoying it. That's the main thing. "We are grateful that we have such a passionate owner, so committed. He's not interested in selling at all. I can tell you recently I had some people really pushing to buy it, [Gene's] not interested. He got even annoyed that these guys are asking so many times."


American Military News
2 hours ago
- American Military News
INTERVIEW: Secret deal means Laos has some of the world's cheapest cigarettes
This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission. A pack of cigarettes in Laos costs as little as 32 U.S. cents, thanks to a secret deal between the Lao government and British tobacco giant, Imperial Brands. In a new report, The Examination, a news site that focuses on global health threats, looks into who benefited from the 2001 deal and how an agreement capping excise taxes has hit government revenues in the Southeast Asian nation and kept the price of cigarettes among the lowest in the world. That's had serious public health consequences for Laos, which has very high rates of smoking. Radio Free Asia's Mat Pennington spoke with Jason McLure, an investigative journalist with The Examination who reported the story. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. RFA: Can you tell us about the deal? Jason McLure: This story is about a deal that dates to 2001 when the communist government of Laos was privatizing the country's state tobacco monopoly. Now, what they did instead of having an open tender … they basically invited Imperial Brands and a local company called ST Group, run by a local businessman named Sithat Xaysoulivong, to bid on this. And ultimately what the Lao government decided to do was to form a joint venture with Imperial Brands and Mr. Sithat Xaysoulivong and his ST Group. Now, the way this was done was very unusual and it also highlighted some very close political connections between Mr. Xaysoulivong and the Lao government at the time. RFA: So who really benefited from this? And what was the fiscal impact for the Lao government? Did they lose revenue? McLure: The way the deal was structured was the Lao government retained 47% of the tobacco monopoly and Imperial Brands, this British tobacco giant, got 34%. The remaining 19% of the company was owned by this offshore company called S3T which, we know and learned was owned partly by Imperial Brands and partly by Mr. Sithat Xaysoulivong who, as it happened, was an in-law of the Lao prime minister at the time, Bounnhang Vorachit. So there was clearly some familial relationship involved. And ultimately this deal paid $28 million over basically two decades to the former prime minister's in-law. And this had big consequences for the Lao government. One tobacco control group did a study of the consequences of this deal on public health, and what they found was that the Lao government missed out on $143 million in tobacco tax revenue and that is because one provision of this tobacco contract capped cigarette excise taxes and essentially left Laos with some of the cheapest cigarettes in the world. RFA: How much is a packet of cigarettes in Laos? McLure: The cheapest brands of cigarettes in Laos cost about 7,000 kip. That's about 32 U.S. cents. So, we were able to look at WHO (World Health Organization) data from all around the world and find that basically these are some of the very cheapest cigarettes in the world. RFA: So what have been the health impacts of this? McLure: So the health impacts, they really have been significant in Laos. As in many other Asian countries, relatively few women smoke, but somewhere around 37 to 40% of men smoke. So there's a very high smoking rate there. It's one of the highest in the world, at least among men. And this is in part a direct consequence of these very cheap cigarettes that are a consequence of this 25-year contract that was signed back in 2001. Now, there's a lot of data, a lot of research from tobacco control researchers and public health researchers that show the best way to cut smoking rates to get people to quit smoking, or especially to prevent them from starting to smoke, is to increase the price of cigarettes. And the way that governments can do this is by increasing tobacco excise taxes. Now, this 25-year contract in Laos absolutely prevented the Lao government from doing that. RFA: And as we know, Laos is one of the poorest countries in Asia, and it doesn't have a very well-developed health system. So you can see what the sort of impacts would be. McLure: That's right. One of my colleagues visited one of the government hospitals in Laos, and she interviewed people who were there with smoking-related diseases. And the treatment was extremely expensive. And even for many people who have common smoking-related diseases like emphysema or lung cancer … particularly people in the countryside, people in villages, any form of radiation or chemotherapy or treatments like that are going to be out of reach. RFA: So what does Imperial Brands say about this? McLure: During our reporting, we reached out to Imperial Brands to ask them about this contract and specifically to ask why they decided to include an in-law of the prime minister at the time as part of this contract. And what they told us was that, for one thing, they said they comply with all regulations and generally behave in an ethical manner. But they didn't respond to the substance of our questions. We asked them as well about why this contract was kept secret for so long. The contract, in fact, itself, contained a secrecy provision. They told us that this type of confidentiality is normal in such commercial arrangements. RFA: And did the Lao government respond at all to any of your inquiries or Mr. Sithat Xaysoulivong or Mr. Bounnhang Vorachit? McLure: Unfortunately, the Lao government, Mr. Vorachit, Mr. Sithat, even the current Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, they did not respond to our inquiries for this story. RFA: I understand that this isn't a problem that's totally isolated to Laos, that major tobacco companies have reached deals with authoritarian countries and other nations. McLure: That's right. You know, what's really a little bit unusual about this deal is that we were able to get the documents that showed exactly how the payments flowed from the Lao tobacco company and Imperial to the in-law of Laos' then prime minister. But we've seen that British American Tobacco, another one of the tobacco giants, has been involved in dealings with the North Korean regime in violation of U.S. sanctions. In fact, they agreed to pay more than $620 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department as a result of that. RFA: So what's the future of this agreement in Laos? I understand that it's coming up to its term now. McLure: Well, that is an interesting question because this is a 25-year agreement that was signed in 2001. It will expire next year. Now, the government of Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone has already informed Imperial that they won't be renewing this agreement again. However, they did leave the door open to negotiating a new agreement with the same tobacco company. We'll see if that comes to pass and whether or not any insiders like Mr. Sithat, the in-law of former Prime Minister Vorachit, are involved. One thing that we do know is that Mr. Sithat is also close to the family of the current Prime Minister Sonexay. So it remains to be seen. Ultimately, what we've been told is that the current prime minister will be the one making the decision. And as we've seen, this could have huge impacts on the future of smoking in Laos and on Laos' public health. The Examination is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates global health threats. Their investigative report was supported in part by a grant from the Pulitzer Center.


Time Business News
6 hours ago
- Time Business News
How an English Language Course in Lahore Improves Your Listening Skills
Many English students and professionals in Lahore face problems with listening. They try to speak but fail to understand spoken English. This issue creates stress and confusion. Lack of good listening creates barriers in learning. An english language course in lahore by House of Learning helps them to handle this issue in simple ways. Many English learners do not listen to English daily. This gap reduces their understanding. They speak their regional language in daily life. Therefore, students and professionals hardly listen to English conversations. Their poor exposure to real listening creates big hurdles for them. Native speakers speak very fast. So, most learners fail to catch the words. This speed creates confusion and stress. Moreover, language learners skip many words while listening. This problem affects understanding deeply. Different accents confuse language learners easily. Some speak in British style while some use American words. Learners fail to recognise words in different accents. Therefore, listening becomes harder. This issue blocks smooth communication. Limited vocabulary creates listening issues. Students hear words but fail to understand their meaning. Moreover, unknown words break the flow of listening. Therefore, their understanding becomes weak. Poor vocabulary harms both listening and speaking. Most language learners never watch English movies or news. This lack of exposure weakens their listening skills. Listening improves when the ears catch regular sounds of English. Therefore, missing this habit affects their learning. It also lowers confidence during conversations. Many English learners translate English into their regional language while listening. This habit slows down their understanding. Translating breaks the flow of listening. Therefore, the brain focuses more on meaning than on sound. This process creates confusion and mistakes. Some learners do not focus while listening. Therefore, they easily get distracted. Noise or other sounds break their attention. Eventually, their listening fails to stay active. Poor focus creates gaps in learning. Many language learners do not understand correct pronunciation. Words sound different from their spelling. Therefore, students miss the words while listening. Mispronounced words create misunderstandings. This problem affects both listening and speaking. Some English students focus more on grammar rules while listening. This pressure blocks natural understanding. Therefore, the brain divides attention between grammar and listening. As a result, their understanding becomes slower and harder. Language learners often speak in one-to-one situations only. Group conversations never happen in their routine. Therefore, they fail to find different voices at the same time. This issue damages their listening skills in real conversations. English sounds are quite different from Urdu sounds. Therefore, language learners struggle to catch new sounds easily. Therefore, their brain takes time to adjust. This issue creates slow listening progress. It often frustrates them. Written English looks easy but spoken English sounds different. Many students and professionals understand books but fail to catch spoken words. Therefore, listening becomes difficult. This difference creates a gap in their learning. Many language students never talk to fluent English speakers. Therefore, their ears do not pick natural sounds. This gap harms their listening growth. Regular interaction boosts listening power easily, but lack of it delays progress. An English language course in Lahore offered by House of Learning improves listening step by step. Trainers offer daily listening exercises. Language students listen to slow and fast English. Therefore, the brain adjusts at different speeds. This practice makes listening easier. This spoken English course includes role plays and group talks. Students listen to others in real situations. Therefore, listening becomes active. Group discussions train ears to handle many voices. This practice improves real-life communication. This professional English language course in Lahore uses videos, podcasts, and audio lessons. So, students listen to different accents and voices. That's how their listening grows stronger. As audio content trains ears better than books. Trainers help students spot their listening mistakes. Students repeat words until they sound clear. Therefore, wrong patterns slowly disappear. That's how trainers guide them step by step. This support strengthens their listening quickly. Limited listening skills create big hurdles for English learners in Lahore. Many reasons block this skill, like: Poor practice, Stress, Fast speech, and Weak vocabulary. An English language course in Lahore by House of Learning solves these problems effectively. Regular practice, real conversations, role plays, and trainer support make listening better. Students start understanding easily and speak with more confidence. Their listening grows step by step with simple and regular effort! Click here and read more blogs TIME BUSINESS NEWS