for its use as an adjective see lore anatomy and folklore . l or al s.a. type soci t anonyme traded as euronext or industry personal care founded 1909 ; 107 years ago 1909 founder eug ne schueller headquarters 41 rue martre 92110 clichy france area served worldwide key people jean paul agon chairman and ceo liliane bettencourt non executive director products cosmetics and beauty products revenue 25.257 billion 2015 1 operating income 4.388 billion 2015 1 profit 3.297 billion 2015 1 total assets 28.219 billion 2014 total equity 20.005 billion 2014 number of employees 78 600 2014 2 subsidiaries the body shop lanc me website loreal.com l or al s.a. is a french cosmetics company headquartered in clichy hauts de seine 3 with a registered office in paris . 4 it is the world s largest cosmetics company and has developed activities in the field of cosmetics concentrating on hair colour skin care sun protection make up perfume and hair care ; the company is active in dermatology toxicology tissue engineering and biopharmaceutical research fields and is the top nanotechnology patent holder in the united states . 5 the company is a component of euro stoxx 50 stock market index . 6 contents 1 history 2 corporate affairs 2.1 head office 2.2 corporate governance 2.2.1 board of directors 2.2.2 management committee 2.3 stockholders 2.4 business figures 2.5 joint ventures and minority interests 2.6 corporate social responsibility 2.6.1 group wide sustainability plan 2.6.2 sustainable development 2.6.3 position on animal testing 2.7 community involvement and awards 3 research and innovation 3.1 episkin 3.2 nanotechnology 3.3 human skin 3d printing 4 litigation 4.1 advertising 4.2 human resources 5 controversy 6 brands 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit in 1909 eug ne paul louis schueller a young french chemist of german descent 7 developed a hair dye formula called aur ale . schueller formulated and manufactured his own products which he then sold to parisian hairdressers . on 31 july 1919 schueller registered his company 8 the soci t fran aise de teintures inoffensives pour cheveux safe hair dye company of france . the guiding principles of the company which eventually became l or al were research and innovation in the field of beauty . in 1920 the company employed three chemists . by 1950 the team was 100 strong ; that number reached 1 000 by 1984 and is nearly 20 000 today . schueller provided financial support and held meetings for la cagoule at l or al headquarters . la cagoule was a violent french fascist leaning and anti communist group whose leader formed a political party mouvement social r volutionnaire msr social revolutionary movement which in occupied france supported the vichy collaboration with the nazis . 9 l or al hired several members of the group as executives after world war ii such as jacques corr ze who served as ceo of the united states operation . this involvement was extensively researched by michael bar zohar in his book bitter scent . l or al got its start in the hair colour business but the company soon branched out into other cleansing and beauty products . l or al currently markets over 500 brands and thousands of individual products in all sectors of the beauty business hair colour permanents hair styling body and skin care cleansers makeup and fragrance . the company s products are found in a wide variety of distribution channels from hair salons and perfumeries to hyper and supermarkets health beauty outlets pharmacies and direct mail . l or al has six worldwide research and development centres two in france aulnay and chevilly ; one in the u.s. clark new jersey ; one in japan kawasaki kanagawa prefecture ; in 2005 one was established in shanghai china and one in india . a future facility in the us will be in berkeley heights new jersey . from 1988 to 1989 l or al controlled the film company paravision whose properties included the filmation and de laurentiis libraries . studiocanal acquired the paravision properties in 1994 . l or al purchased synth labo in 1973 to pursue its ambitions in the pharmaceutical field . synth labo merged with sanofi in 1999 to become sanofi synth labo . sanofi synth labo merged with aventis in 2004 to become sanofi aventis . on 17 march 2006 l or al purchased cosmetics company the body shop for 562 million . l or al s advertising slogan is because i m worth it . in the mid 2000s this was replaced by because you re worth it . in late 2009 the slogan was changed again to because we re worth it following motivation analysis and work into consumer psychology of dr. maxim titorenko . the shift to we was made to create stronger consumer involvement in l or al philosophy and lifestyle and provide more consumer satisfaction with l or al products . l or al also owns a hair and body products line for kids called l or al kids the slogan for which is because we re worth it too . in 1987 during the growth years of the mail order business l or al and 3 suisses founded le club des cr ateurs de beaut for mail order sales of cosmetic products with brands including agn s b. cosmence and professeur christine poelman among others . in march 2008 l or al acquired 3 suisse s stake taking sole control of the company . 10 in november 2013 l or al announced that le club des cr ateurs de beaut would cease activity in the first half of 2014 . 11 in november 2012 l or al inaugurated the largest factory in the jababeka industrial park cikarang indonesia with a total investment of us 100 million . 12 the production will be absorbed 25 percent by domestic market and the rest will be exported . in 2010 significant growth occurred at indonesia with 61 percent increase of unit sales or 28 percent of net sales . 13 in january 2014 l or al finalised the acquisition of major chinese beauty brand magic holdings for 840 million . 14 on 11 february 2014 it was announced that l oreal had sealed a deal worth 3.4 bn to buy back 8 % of its shares from swiss consumer goods giant nestle . as a result of the deal nestle s stake in l oreal will be reduced from 29.4 pc to 23.29 pc while the bettencourt meyers family s stake will increase from 30.6 pc to 33.2 pc . nestle has owned a stake in l oreal since 1974 when it bought into the company at the request of liliane bettencourt the daughter of the founder of l oreal and world s richest woman who was trying to prevent the french state s intervention in the company . on 20 february 2014 shiseido agreed to sell its carita and decl or brands to l or al for 227.5 million us 312.93 million 2014 . 15 on 18 june 2014 l or al agreed to acquire nyx cosmetics for an undisclosed price bolstering its makeup offer in north america where its consumer products unit has faltered . 16 in september 2014 l or al announced it had agreed to purchase brazilian hair care company niely cosmeticos group for an undisclosed amount . 17 in october 2014 l or al acquired multi cultural brand carol s daughter . in 2015 soo joo park became l or al s first asian american global spokesmodel . 18 in 2015 kristina bazan became l oreal s first international e spokesperson . in july 2016 l or al announced it had agreed to purchase it cosmetics for 1.2 billion . corporate affairs edit head office edit centre eug ne schueller l or al head office in clichy france l or al group has its head office in the centre eug ne schueller in clichy hauts de seine near paris . 19 the building constructed in the 1970s from brick and steel replaced the former monsavon factory and employees moved into the facility in 1978 . 1 400 employees work in the building . 20 in 2005 nils klawitter of der spiegel said the building with its brown glazed fa ade of windows is every bit as ugly as its neighbourhood . klawitter added that the facility gives the impression of a high security zone due to the cctv cameras and security equipment . the world s largest hair salon is located inside the head office building . as of 2005 90 hairdressers served 300 women including retirees students and unemployed people per day ; the customers are used as test subjects for new hair colours . 21 l or al usa has its headquarters in new york city ; 22 l or al s head office in australia is in melbourne . corporate governance edit board of directors edit current members of the board of directors of l or al 23 are jean paul agon chairman and ceo jean pierre meyers vice chairman of the board of directors peter brabeck letmathe vice chairman of the board of directors fran oise bettencourt meyers director paul bulcke director charles henri filippi director xavier fontanet director bernard kasriel director christiane kuehne director marc ladreit de lacharri re director jean victor meyers director virginie morgon director annette roux director louis schweitzer director management committee edit the management committee includes 24 jean paul agon chairman and chief executive officer laurent attal evp research and innovation barbara lavernos evp operations nicolas hieronimus president selective divisions brigitte liberman president cosmetic active division marc menesguen president consumer products division christian mulliez evp administration and finances alexis perakis valat evp asia pacific zone alexandre popoff evp eastern europe zone sara ravella evp communication sustainability and public affairs frederic roz evp of the americas zone geoff skingsley evp africa middle east zone an verhulst santos president professional products division j r me tixier evp human resources and advisor to the chairman johen zaumsel evp western europe zone stockholders edit as at year end 2013 25 breakdown of share ownership 33.31 % by the bettencourt family 23.29 % by nestl 21.8 % by international institutional investors 9.3 % by french institutional investors 5 7 % by individual shareholders 1.9 % treasury stock and 0.7 % by employees . business figures edit countries with l or al products available in 2003 l or al announced its 19th consecutive year of double digit growth . its consolidated sales were 14.029 bn and net profit was 1.653 bn . 96.7 % of sales derived from cosmetic activities and 2.5 % from dermatological activities . l or al has operations in over 130 countries employing 50 500 people 24 % of which work in france . 3.3 % of consolidated sales is invested in research and development which accounts for 2 900 of its employees . in 2003 it applied for 515 patents . it operates 42 manufacturing plants throughout the world which employ 14 000 people . cosmetics sales by division breakdown 54.8 % from consumer products at 7.506 bn 25.1 % from luxury products at 3.441 bn 13.9 % from professional products at 1.9 bn and 5.5 % from active cosmetics at 0.749 bn . cosmetic sales by geographic zone breakdown 52.7 % from western europe at 7.221 bn 27.6 % from north america at 3.784 bn 19.7 % from rest of the world at 2.699 bn . in 2007 l or al was ranked 353 in the fortune global 500 . 26 the company had earned 2 585 million on sales of 19 811 million . there were 60 850 employees . 26 by march 19 2016 the company had a share value of 89 542 million euros distributed in 562 983 348 shares . joint ventures and minority interests edit l or al holds 10.41 % of the shares of sanofi aventis the