Aesop CEO Michael O’Keeffe to depart after more than 20 years

Aesop CEO Michael O’Keeffe is exiting the company, where he worked for the past 22 years, the Australian Financial Review has reported.

“I need a break and sabbatical and need to move on to the next project,” O’Keeffe told AFR Weekend.

“At any company, there is a time that a CEO should be there.”

O’Keeffe’s departure comes after Aesop hit $1 billion in sales this year, which he says the company could easily double.

He noted that Japan has become Aesop’s largest market and ranked eighth in prestige cosmetics. The brand also has a growing market share in Korea and China.

According to the report, O’Keeffe has other investments through his family office, including a 30 per cent stake in UK fashion brand Sunspel.

O’Keeffe joined Aesop when it was still a small business with about 10 staff. Now, the brand has more than 4500 employees and operates stores across the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia.

Under O’Keeffe’s leadership, Aesop’s sales surged more than 300 times, secured a B Corp certification, and established the Aesop Foundation.

Aesop was founded by Melbourne hairdresser Dennis Paphitis in 1987. Brazilian company Natura & Co acquired a 65 per cent interest in the brand in 2012 for US$71.6 million, and four years later bought the balance. It on-sold the business to L’Oreal for US$2.525 billion (A$3.7 billion) in April last year.

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