Revlon, the 90-year-old multinational beauty company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US, weighed down by debt load, disruptions to its supply chain network and surging costs.
Her father, the billionaire Ron Perelman, backs the company through MacAndrews & Forbes, which acquired the business through a hostile takeover in the late 1980s. Revlon went public in 1996. Revlon’s problems intensified with the pandemic, which hurt sales of lipsticks as people wore masks. Sales fell 21% to $1.9bn in 2020 but rebounded 9.2% to $2.08bn in 2022 as shoppers went back to pre-pandemic routines. In the latest quarter that ended in March, sales rose nearly 8%. The company avoided bankruptcy in late 2020 by persuading enough bondholders to extend its maturing debt.
How much of this is financial shenanigans designed to avoid their Asbestos liability?