cosmetics skin care fragrances and personal care founded 1932 founder joseph & charles revson charles lachman headquarters one new york plaza new york ny 10004 u.s. key people fabian garcia ceo and president revenue us 1.9 billion 2015 1 2 operating income us 216 million 2015 1 2 net income us 56 million 2015 2 total assets us 1.97 billion 2015 2 number of employees 6 800 parent macandrews & forbes 60 % 74 % of votes fidelity investments 20 % website www.revlon.com revlon inc. is an american multinational cosmetics skin care fragrance and personal care company founded in 1932 and based in new york city . contents 1 history 2 advertising 3 philanthropy 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit revlon was founded in the midst of the great depression 1932 by charles revson and his brother joseph along with a chemist charles lachman who contributed the l in the revlon name . starting with a single product a new type of nail enamel the three founders pooled their resources and developed a unique manufacturing process . using pigments instead of dyes revlon developed a variety of new shades of opaque nail enamel . in 1937 revlon started selling the polishes in department stores and drug stores . in six years the company became a multimillion dollar organization . by 1940 revlon offered an entire manicure line and added lipstick to the collection . during world war ii revlon created makeup and related products for the u.s. army which was honored in 1944 with the army navy e award for excellence . by the end of the war revlon was listed as one of america s top five cosmetic houses . expanding its capabilities the company bought graef & schmidt a cutlery manufacturer seized by the government in 1943 because of german business ties . this acquisition made it possible for revlon to produce its own manicure and pedicure instruments instead of buying them from outside supply sources . in november 1955 revlon went public . the ipo price was 12 per share but it reached 30 per share within 8 weeks . in the 1960s revson segmented revlon inc into different divisions each focusing on a different market . he borrowed this strategy from general motors . each division had its own target customer revlon the largest and most popular priced brand princess marcella borghese upscale international ultima ii premium natural wonder juniors moon drops dry skin etherea hypo allergenic in 1957 revlon acquired knomark a shoe polish company and sold its shoe polish line esquire shoe polish in 1969 . other acquisitions such as ty d bol the maker of toilet cleansers and a 27 percent interest in the schick electric shaver company were soon discarded . evan picone a women s sportswear manufacturer which came with a price tag of 12 million in 1962 was sold back to one of the original partners four years later for 1 million . however the 1967 acquisition of u.s. vitamin and pharmaceutical corporation made revlon a leader in diabetes drugs . the company began to market its products overseas at the end of the 1950s . by 1962 when revlon debuted in japan there were subsidiaries in france italy argentina mexico and asia . revlon s entrance into the japanese market was typical of its international sales strategy . instead of adapting its ads and using japanese models revlon chose to use its basic u.s. advertising and models . japanese women loved the american look and the sales for 1962 came to almost 164 million . in 1968 revlon introduced eterna27 the first cosmetic cream with an estrogen precursor called progenitin pregenolone acetate as well as introducing the world s first american fashion designer fragrance norman norell . later revlon launched braggi and pub for men and a line of wig maintenance products called wig wonder . in 1970 revlon acquired the mitchum line of deodorants . in 1973 revlon introduced charlie . geared to the under 30 market charlie model shelley hack in ralph lauren clothes personified the independent woman of the 1970s . this was the first perfume ad to feature a woman wearing pants . charlie raised revlon s net sales figures to 506 million for 1973 and almost 606 million the following year . shelley hack appeared on oprah in 2007 to talk about the power of these charlie print and commercial ads . their follow up fragrance jontue became the number two best seller . in 1973 model lauren hutton signed an exclusive modeling contract agreeing to pose for revlon s ultima line for 400 000 for two years . she was featured on the cover of newsweek for this ground breaking cosmetics contract . 3 additionally famed photographer richard avedon was signed on as the exclusive photographer for the brand another cosmetics industry first . 4 in 1975 charles revson died . michel bergerac who revson had hired as president of the company continued to expand the company holdings . revlon acquired coburn optical industries an oklahoma based manufacturer of ophthalmic and optical processing equipment and supplies . barnes hind the largest u.s. marketer of hard contact lens solutions was bought in 1976 and strengthened revlon s share of the eye care market . revlon purchased armour pharmaceutical company a division of armour and company from the greyhound corporation in 1977 . other acquisitions included the lewis howe company makers of tums antacid in 1978 . these health care operations helped sales figures to pass the 1 billion mark in 1977 bringing total sales to 1.7 billion in 1979 . in the mid 1980s revlon lost ground to est e lauder . estee lauder spent millions of dollars on numerous magazine ads featuring czech supermodel paulina porizkova shot by famed chicago fashion photographer victor skrebneski . revlon s share dropped from 20 percent to 10 percent of department store cosmetics sales . sales at the drugstore also declined as revlon lost shares to noxell s cover girl brand . revlon compensated with more acquisitions ; max factor ellen betrix charles of the ritz germaine monteil almay fermodyl lancaster aziza and halston . the 1977 acquisition of carlos colomer a spanish professional beauty supply distributor brought fermodyl and roux and helped introduce revlon to the world of ethnic care creme of nature realistic lovely color and milk and honey . in 1983 the company attempted an unsuccessful hostile takeover of gillette . in 1989 revlon became one of the first companies to replace animal tests with alternative safety testing methods . 5 revlon counter in new zealand department store farmers on november 5 1985 at a price of 58 per share totaling 2.7 billion revlon was sold to pantry pride later renamed to revlon group inc. a subsidiary of ronald perelman s macandrews & forbes . the buyout engineered with the help of junk bond king michael p. milken saddled revlon with a huge 2.9 billion debt load which became an albatross around the company s neck for years to come . pantry pride inc. offered to buy any or all of revlon s 38.2 million outstanding shares for 47.5 a share when its street price stood at 45 a share . initially rejected he repeatedly raised his offer until it reached 53 a share while fighting revlon s management every step of the way . forstmann little & company swooped in at 56 a share a brief public bidding war ensued and perelman triumphed with an offer of 58 a share . perelman paid 1.8 billion to revlon s shareholders but he also paid 900 million of other costs associated with the purchase . 6 perelman had revlon sell four divisions two for 1 billion the vision care division for 574 million and the national health laboratories division which became a publicly owned corporation in 1988 . additional make up lines were purchased for revlon max factor in 1987 and betrix in 1989 later sold to procter & gamble in 1991 . 7 also in 1991 revlon sold the clean & clear brand to johnson & johnson . in march 2011 revlon acquired mirage cosmetics makers of sinful colors nail products . 8 in 2011 peta removed revlon and other high profile cosmetic brands from its list of companies who do not test their products on animals after the organization learned they were paying chinese laboratories to test their cosmetics on rabbits and other animals . 9 in august 2013 revlon consumer products corp. bought the colomer group from cvc capital partners a private equity firm for 660 million . 10 after suffering business loss in 2011 and 2012 at the end of 2013 revlon announced that it will exit the chinese market which employs 1 100 people . the business in china accounted for just 2 percent portion of net sales of revlon s international operations . 11 on november 1 2013 revlon named lorenzo delpani as president and ceo 12 on september 22 2014 revlon s board of directors elected roberto simon as executive vice president and chief financial officer effective as of sept. 30 . 13 advertising edit tram with revlon advertising in hong kong june 2007 up until the 1940s revlon s magazine ads were drawn by hand and mostly in black and white . beginning in 1945 revlon began launching full color photographic advertisements in major magazines and stores across the country . revlon introduced matching nail polish and lipsticks with exotic and unique names . these ads were taken by the top fashion photographers of the day including richard avedon cecil beaton and john rawlings . some of these ads were for paint the town pink and 1945 s fatal apple with dorian leigh . in 1947 revlon introduced bachelor s carnation and in 1948 sweet talk . in 1950 revlon introduced a red lipstick and nail enamel called where s the fire revlon used the word fire again later in their fire and ice ads . one of the world s first supermodels dorian leigh starred in some of revlon s most memorable advertisements of all time . in 1946 dorian was covered in purple flowers and wrapped in a pale purple sheet for ultra violet . in 1947 dorian appeared in fashion plate . in 1953 at the age of 36 she appeared in cherries in the snow . later that year she appeared in the legendary fire and ice ad shot by richard avedon . originally dorian appeared in a tight silver beaded dress with an enormous red wrap . her black hair had a silver swirl in it and she had her hands with long red nails positioned in front of her breasts . charles revson rejected avedon s original ad as too sexual . 14 they re shot the ad this time with her open hand in front of one hip the other in front of her cheek . the advertisement became madison avenue legend because of the full page quiz next to the sensual ad . almost 50 years later in november 2010 revlon re created 1953 s fire and ice magazine ad this time with actress jessica biel . with this ad revlon announced they were issuing a limited edition fire and ice lipstick and nail color calling this campaign lips and tips . dorian leigh s 15 years younger red headed sister suzy parker also shot numerous revlon magazine ads in the 1950s . charles revson who wanted to marry dorian at some point despised suzy and vice versa . at one point he refused to hire her anymore because suzy complained about the peanut paycheck she received from revlon . richard avedon however after photographing other models for a particular revlon ad would call in suzy last minute sometimes late at night to do re takes with him . this happened with stormy pink an ad suzy shot very late at night with a wild