LOS ANGELES _ Dollar Shave Club, the Venice start-up that upended the men's razor blade industry with its online-only subscription service, was acquired by global home goods and food giant Unilever, the companies announced Tuesday.
Neither Dollar Shave Club nor Unilever disclosed terms of the deal. Forbes reported the purchase price at $1 billion, citing an anonymous source close to the deal.
Mike Dubin, Dollar Shave Club's founder and chief executive, will retain the top job at the company.
Dubin said the two sides had been talking for months about an investment. Those talks evolved into discussions about an acquisition after Dubin acknowledged how Unilever could help Dollar Shave Club grow into a global brand.
"It was a flight we didn't want to miss," Dubin said.
Dollar Shave Club will remain largely independent to build its brand, which was made famous by a series of tongue-in-cheek viral videos starring Dubin. The company will also get to retain all 190 of its employees, Dubin said.
Since launching in 2012, Dollar Shave Club has been credited for kick-starting the online razor market. It has since added a line of hair and skin products as well as moistened bathroom wipes.
The company remains enmeshed in a lawsuit with rival Gillette, which started its own online subscription service in 2014. Gillette, which is owned by Procter & Gamble, alleges Dollar Shave Club stole one of its patents to reduce wear and tear on its razor blades.
Dubin declined to comment on the lawsuit and whether it had an effect on the sale to Unilever.
Unilever, based in London, had nearly $60 billion in sales last year in 190 countries. Among its best known stable of brands are Dove, Lipton and Ben & Jerry's.
"Dollar Shave Club is an innovative and disruptive male grooming brand with incredibly deep connections to its diverse and highly engaged consumers," Kees Kruythoff, president of Unilever North America, said in a statement. "We plan to leverage the global strength of Unilever to support Dollar Shave Club in achieving its full potential in terms of offering and reach."
