The Top 50

New Faces, New Places

By Tom Branna

It’s been a year of transition for many in The Top 50, our annual look at the leading U.S.-based companies in the household and personal products industry. Avon is back to its winning ways with a transformation plan in place, while Sara Lee executives hope for the same results with a reorganization plan of their own. Meanwhile, Clorox is closing in on 100, but old age hasn’t stopped it from launching an aggressive growth strategy. Limited Brands, that retailer-turned-cosmetics maverick, is moving even closer to becoming known primarily as a purveyor of personal care products as it jettisons some less profitable units. Finally, Alberto-Culver separated its consumer product business from its Sally distribution group.

Acqusitions during the past year have also transformed The Top 50. Gone are some familiar names such as Orange Glo International (acquired by Church & Dwight) and Pfizer (its consumer health care business was purchased by Johnson & Johnson). Similarly, this is the last year in The Top 50 for Tanning Research Labs; aka Hawaiian Tropic, which was purchased by Playtex Products and Philosophy, which was bought by Procter & Gamble earlier this year. New to this year’s list are Bare Escentuals and American International Industries. At the same time, many companies have swapped places throughout the ranking.

Of course, some things within The Top 50 never seem to change. Revlon has a new CEO, S.C. Johnson remains the largest family-owned company on our list and Estée Lauder is still on top of the hill when it comes to prestige retail channels.

Since we started The Top 50 back in 1978, P&G has been No. 1. As it has been for several years, Colgate-Palmolive is a distant No. 2. Rounding out the top 10 in The Top 50 are S.C. Johnson, Estée Lauder, Avon Products, Ecolab, Johnson & Johnson, Limited Brands, Access Business Group, and Clorox, Coty and Johnson Diversey all tied at 10.

But regardless of their size, or whether they market cleaners or cosmetics, every successful consumer product company understands that the consumer is calling the shots these days—deciding what to buy, when and where she wants!

We hope you enjoy this edition of The Top 50. As always, we welcome your comments on our ranking, as well as anything else that appears in Happi. Be sure to read our August issue, which will include The International Top 30, our annual look at the largest manufacturers of household and personal products with corporate headquarters outside the U.S.

The Top 50

1.	Procter & Gamble	Cincinnati, OH	$49 billion
2.	Colgate-Palmolive	New York, NY	$10.5 billion
3.	S.C. Johnson	Racine, WI	$7 billion
4.	Estée Lauder	New York, NY	$6.4 billion
5.	Avon	New York, NY	$6.1 billion
6.	Ecolab	St. Paul, MN	$4.9 billion
7.	Johnson & Johnson	New Brunswick, NJ	$4.3 billion
8.	Limited Brands	Columbus, OH	$3.1 billion
9.	Access Business Group	Ada, MI	$3 billion
10.	Clorox	Oakland, CA	$2.9 billion
10.	Coty	New York, NY	$2.9 billion
10.	Johnson Diversey	Sturtevant, WI	$2.9 billion
13.	Mary Kay	Dallas, TX	$2.2 billion
14.	Sara Lee	Chicago, IL	$1.8 billion
15.	Church & Dwight	Princeton, NJ	$1.6 billion
16.	Revlon	New York, NY	$1.3 billion
17.	Alberto-Culver	Melrose Park, IL	$1.2 billion
18.	Blyth	Greenwich, CT	$1.0 billion
18.	Huish	Salt Lake City, UT	$1.0 billion
20.	Elizabeth Arden	Miramar, FL	$955 million
21.	Yankee Candle	South Deerfield, MA	$687 million
22.	Schering-Plough	Kenilworth, NJ	$565 million
23.	Acuity	Atlanta, GA	$552 million
24.	Jafra	Westlake Village, CA	$494 million
25.	John Paul Mitchell Systems	Beverly Hills, CA	$480 million
26.	Nu Skin	Provo, UT	$454 million
27.	Bare Escentuals	San Francisco, CA	$394 million
28.	Phoenix Brands	Stamford, CT	$360 million
29.	Del Labs	Uniondale, NY	$339 million
30.	Combe	White Plains, NY	$325 million
30.	Markwins	City of Industry, CA	$325 million
32.	Chattem	Chattanooga, TN	$300 million
33.	Prestige Brands	Irvington, NY	$297 million
34.	WD-40 Company	San Diego, CA	$287 million
35.	Playtex	Westport, CT	$230 million
36.	Liz Claiborne	New York, NY	$226 million
37.	Turtle Wax	Chicago, IL	$204 million
38.	American International	Los Angeles, CA	$179 million
39.	Burt’s Bees	Durham, NC	$170 million
40.	Herbalife	Los Angeles, CA	$152 million
41.	NCH	Irving, TX	$149 million
42.	Philosophy	Phoenix, AZ	$140 million
43.	OPI	N. Hollywood, CA	$128 million
44.	Bonne Bell	Lakewood, OH	$123 million
45.	Parlux	Fort Lauderdale, FL	$120 million
46.	BeautiControl	Carrollton, TX	$119 million
47.	Tanning Reseach Labs	Ormand Beach, FL	$110 million
48.	Spartan	Maumee, OH	$108 million
49.	State	Cleveland, OH	$105 million
50.	Merle Norman	Los Angeles, CA	$103 million