--- title: This Irreverent Mail-Order Startup Was Just Purchased for $1 Billion description: Startup Dollar Shave Club is being acquired by Unilever, which is looking for a way to compete with Gillette and Procter & Gamble. authors: - name: Martha C. White role: Writer url: https://money.com/author/martha-c-white/ education: BA, English, Princeton University at_money_since: 2015 articles: 350 covers: - Business - Banking - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Federal Reserve Rate Cuts - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology published: '2016-07-20T13:45:04.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T02:55:42.000Z' section: Business tags: - Dollar Shave Club - pubdesk - razors - shaving razor - Startups - toiletries word_count: 345 canonical: https://money.com/dollar-shave-club-sold-unilever/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![dollar-shave-dubin](https://img.money.com/2016/07/dollar-shave-dubin.jpeg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C3000px%2C1688px&quality=85) *Dollar Shave Club CEO Michael Dubin* Dollar Shave Club, the mail-order razor startup that generated as much buzz for its hilarious offbeat ads as for its low-cost business model, is having a very good day. The company accepted a buyout offer from Dutch personal-care products giant Unilever for $1 billion, according to [*Fortune*](http://fortune.com/2016/07/19/unilever-buys-dollar-shave-club-for-1-billion/). Dollar Shave Club CEO Michael Dubin, who starred in a string of company ads using some four-letter words to explain just how amazing his company's blades are, might say that the big deal is "f---ing great," in keeping with the company's borderline-NSFW tag line. (What keeps it borderline is that both the verbal and print versions of the word are perfunctorily censored.) Dollar Shave Club was said to be worth $539 million, based on the $160 million in venture capital it raised. But, as the *[Wall Street Journal](http://www.wsj.com/articles/unilever-buys-dollar-shave-club-1468987836)* pointed out, despite having 3.2 million members and revenue last year of $152 million the company isn't in the black yet. This didn't apparently faze Unilever, which is looking for an (ahem) edge over rival Proctor & Gamble, whose Gillette brand dominates the market. Dollar Shave Club's initial pitch was simple when it [started in 2012](http://business.time.com/2012/03/12/dollar-shave-club-a-start-ups-viral-ad-for-fing-great-razors-is-a-big-hit/) after being in beta for about a year: For as little as $1 a month plus a couple more bucks for shipping, customers would get "f---ing great" quality razor blades shipped straight to their door, with a handle included in the initial shipment. ***Read Next:* [Why Dos Equis’ ‘Most Interesting Man’ Ad Campaign Was So Successful](https://money.com/success-most-interesting-man-in-the-world-ad/)** The mail-order business was so basic, it sounded almost quaint — until you threw f-bomb-slinging, motormouthing Dubin and some random dude dancing in a bear costume into the mix. ([*Businessweek* dubbed](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-03-08/lazy-men-the-next-frontier-in-online-retail) the bro-friendly marketing appeal the Judd Apatow of business models.) The company's [online ad](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUG9qYTJMsI) has racked up nearly 23 million YouTube views since launching. We'll have to wait and see what Unilever does with Dollar Shave Club. Surely, the corporation will want to get a return on its investment, and it would have to sell a staggering number of cheap razors to get that $1 billion back. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-shave-club-sold-unilever/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Business", "item": "https://money.com/business/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Startups", "item": "https://money.com/startups/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "This Irreverent Mail-Order Startup Was Just Purchased for $1 Billion" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-shave-club-sold-unilever/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/dollar-shave-club-sold-unilever/", "name": "This Irreverent Mail-Order Startup Was Just Purchased for $1 Billion", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2016-07-20T13:45:04.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-shave-club-sold-unilever/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/dollar-shave-club-sold-unilever/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T02:55:42.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "This Irreverent Mail-Order Startup Was Just Purchased for $1 Billion", "articleSection": "Business", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2016/07/dollar-shave-dubin.jpeg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C3000px%2C1688px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "dollar-shave-dubin" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha C. 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