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How Tom Ford built a billion-dollar brand: the US$2.8 billion Estée Lauder buyout adds zeros to his net worth, but the fashion maverick is also a fragrance king, property mogul and film director
STORYBusiness Insider

- Estée Lauder’s US$2.8 billion purchase of Tom Ford makes the namesake fashion designer a billionaire – but he didn’t build the era-defining brand overnight
- Michelle Obama is a fan of the label, but the multi-hyphenate talent also directed two films – A Single Man and Nocturnal Animals – and built a property empire with husband Richard Buckley
Why did Tom Ford sell his eponymous brand? The US$2.8 billion price tag could have something to do with it, with Estée Lauder’s buyout declared the luxury industry’s biggest deal of 2022. “I could not be happier with this acquisition as The Estée Lauder Companies is the ideal home for the brand,” gushed Ford, after the news broke. It’s not hard to wonder why.

So who is Ford and how did the brand he built in his image become so very valuable?
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He redefined Gucci for Y2K
His monosyllabic moniker first started raising eyebrows when Ford was hired as Gucci’s creative director in 1990. Today, he is often credited with turning around the Italian house’s trajectory and helping the company to go public in 1995.

Ford’s daring designs for Gucci earned him the title “fashion’s greatest provocateur” – but the story doesn’t stop there. He then became the creative director of Yves Saint Laurent after it was acquired by Gucci in 1999.
… then Tom Ford launched his eponymous brand
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