Reuters: LVMH may sell a stake in Rihanna's beauty brand. He made the singer a billionaire

French luxury giant LVMH is exploring the sale of its stake in cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty, which it co-owns with pop star Rihanna, Reuters sources claim. As of fall 2024, LVMH has pulled out of several design projects it staked on several years ago. The value of Fenty could be estimated at $1-2 billion: it made Rihanna a billionaire.

LVMH is working with investment bank Evercore on a deal to sell its 50% stake in Fenty Beauty, three sources told Reuters. According to the agency's interlocutors, Rihanna's cosmetics brand could be valued at between $1 billion and $2 billion. Its revenue in 2024 amounted to about $450 million.

LVMH and Evercore declined to comment. Fenty Beauty and Rihanna's representatives left Reuters' request unanswered.

Rihanna (full name Robyn Rihanna Fenty) launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 with the backing of Kendo Brands, LVMH's in-house beauty incubator. According to sources, the singer and LVMH own the venture equally. The pop star also owns lingerie brand Savage X Fenty. LVMH-affiliated private equity fund L Catterton acquired a stake in it in 2021.

In 2021, American Forbes recognized Rihanna as a billionaire: the singer earned such a fortune not so much by performances, but by business initiatives, the magazine wrote. Now Forbes estimates Rihanna's fortune at $1 billion, she ranks 3078th in the list of the richest people in the world, shows Forbes Real-Time rating, which is updated in real time depending on the quotes.

In February 2021, LVMH and Rihanna closed the Fenty fashion house project, which had not even lasted two years. Fenty was the second luxury fashion brand that LVMH tried to create from scratch. The first was Christian Lacroix, which LVMH opened in 1987 and sold in 2005, failing to make it profitable.

In the fall of 2024, LVMH sold the American streetwear brand Off-White, acquired three years earlier. In early 2025, the French luxury conglomerate agreed to sell designer Stella McCartney - daughter of The Beatles guitarist Paul McCartney - a minority stake in its Stella McCartney brand. Also, according to The Wall Street Journal, LVMH is considering the sale of the American brand Marc Jacobs.

Last week, LVMH's financial report, which recorded an unexpected increase in quarterly sales, triggered a rally in the luxury sector. On October 22 after the close of trading in Paris, Kering (owner of Gucci) will also present its quarterly results. According to Business of Fashion (BoF), analysts on average expect a 16% quarter-on-quarter decline in sales for Gucci, Kering's largest brand. A smaller decline could support the luxury goods sector ahead of the holiday shopping season, the industry publication said.

French luxury brand Hermes also reported on Wednesday: its revenue increased by 9.6%, slightly exceeding analysts' expectations. However, sales in the leather goods segment, the key source of the brand's profits, were below forecasts, Bloomberg noted.

On October 23, it will be the turn of Italian companies: Prada, Zegna and Ferragamo will report quarterly results. The first two are expected to show growth in the third quarter, while Ferragamo is expected to record another decline, BoF reports.

Shares of LVMH at trades in Paris initially declined by about 0.8%, but then recovered losses and began to appreciate by 0.3%. Hermes shares were falling after the opening of trading by 4.7%, but then slowed down to 2.5%. Kering was losing about 0.7%.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor