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Drunk Elephant in the Room

How a viral-hit bronzer, post-exit blues, and Shiseido’s bungling of the clean beauty pioneer sobered up Drunk Elephant.

Tiffany Masterson
It’s not unusual for founders to step aside after an acquisition, but Masterson, who had overseen everything at Drunk Elephant, from creative to product development, apparently wanted to remain involved. Photo: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Drunk Elephant
Rachel Strugatz
June 11, 2025

It’s been a rough couple of years at Shiseido, the Japanese cosmetics giant whose stock has cratered some 80 percent since peaking in 2018. Ron Gee, the former C.E.O. of the Americas division and Shiseido’s global M&A lead, abruptly left the company in April without a successor in place. Indeed, an executive at the company told me they had spoken with Gee just days before his departure, and there was no indication of a forthcoming change. Employees found out via a Microsoft Teams meeting hosted by Shiseido C.E.O. Kentaro Fujiwara, and that was that.