Lenthéric, Inc. is a manufacturer of perfumes, cosmetics, toilet preparations,
[“Purely Gossip”, '']Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'', 7 January 1942, pg. 15. hair spray, and shampoo.
[“Helene Curtis Acquisition”, ''Wall Street Journal'', 12 October 1956, pg. 6.]
Corporate history
The name of the company was taken from Guillaume Lenthéric, a
French distiller and dispenser of perfumes in late 19th century
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. He operated a small salon in 245
rue Saint-Honoré
The rue Saint-Honoré is a street in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.
It is named after the collegial situated in ancient times within the cloisters of Saint-Honoré.
The street, on which are located a number of museums and upscale bou ...
in
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, beginning in 1875. The firm incorporated in 1924. Lenthéric became a
subsidiary
A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of
Squibb, and was 90% controlled by the parent company in January 1942.
In 1947 Lenthéric, Inc., experienced a decline in earnings due to higher wages, advertising expenses, and vast returns of merchandise from retail stores, which trimmed inventories. In 1951 the company hoped to increase sales by introducing a new line of makeup called ''Sheer Beauty''. It sold for less than $5. The firm also reduced the price of ''Debo'' deodorant from $1.35 to $1.00. This was accomplished by making the product in a plastic squeeze bottle rather than a glass bottle with
atomizer.
Squibb had manufacturing plants in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and
New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat, seat of government of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...]
and 58th Street in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. Squibb was acquired by the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation in the late summer of 1952.
Helene Curtis Industries, Inc., of
Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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acquired the Lentheric, Inc., division of the Olin Mathieson Chemical Corporation in October 1956.
In 1990, Old Bond Street, 88.5% owned by
Wasserstein Perella & Co., purchased Lenthéric and
Yardley from
SmithKline Beecham
GSK plc, formerly GlaxoSmithKline plc, is a British multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with global headquarters in London, England. Established in 2000 by a merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. GSK is the tent ...
.
[“Investor Group acquires SmithKline-Yardley,Lentheric from GlaxoSmithKline PLC through a leveraged buyout”, ''Thomson Financial Mergers & Acquisitions'', 7 July 1990.] In 1998, Old Bond Street collapsed and Lenthéric was sold to Shaneel Enterprises Ltd.
References
External links
Corporate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lentheric, Inc.
Companies based in New York (state)
Cosmetics companies of the United States
History of cosmetics
Design companies established in 1875
1875 establishments in France