Clorox Purchases Burt's Bees (What?!)

"In October 2007, Clorox Company, the multi-billion dollar manufacturer of plastic bags, bathroom cleaners and laundry bleach, announced that it was acquiring natural cosmetics maker, Burt's Bees for $925 million.

Of course, Burt's Bees is no longer the tiny honey and beeswax candle business that Burt Shavitz and Roxanne Quimby founded in Maine in 1984. In fact, since 1993, the bearded Burt has not even owned the business that markets his face and his bees. More to the point, in 2004, 80% of Burt's Bees was acquired by an investment group and by 2006 the company had grown into a professionally managed $250 million business selling lipstick, toothpaste and hand cream in grocery store chains throughout the United States and around the world. Thus, like the Cheshire Cat's smile, the brand will survive the Clorox acquisition even though the small cottage industry Burt's once was will have disappeared like so many honey bee colonies around the world."

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