Who Owns Burt's Bees? The Clorox Company Ownership Explained

Evelyn Carter
9 hours ago
7 min read

The Clorox Company owns Burt's Bees, having acquired the natural personal care brand in 2007 for $925 million. Burt's Bees operates as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Clorox, a publicly traded company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol CLX.

The Short Answer: Who Owns Burt's Bees?

Clorox has owned 100% of Burt's Bees since late 2007. That means when you buy Burt's Bees lip balm or lotion, you're buying a Clorox product—the same company that makes bleach, Glad bags, and Hidden Valley Ranch.

Because Clorox is a public company, Burt's Bees is indirectly owned by Clorox shareholders: institutional investors like Vanguard and BlackRock, individual stockholders, and company insiders. But the direct owner is Clorox itself, which purchased the brand outright nearly two decades ago.

The natural personal care brand that started in a Maine schoolhouse with beeswax candles is now part of a multinational consumer products empire.

The Clorox Company: Burt's Bees' Parent Company

Clorox isn't just bleach. The Oakland, California-based company, founded in 1913, owns a portfolio of consumer brands found in about nine out of ten U.S. homes.

Besides Burt's Bees, Clorox owns:

Clorox cleaning products
Brita water filters
Glad bags and containers
Hidden Valley salad dressings
Pine-Sol cleaners
Kingsford charcoal
Fresh Step cat litter

Burt's Bees sits alongside these brands as part of Clorox's strategy to diversify into health, wellness, and sustainability-focused products. The company trades on the New York Stock Exchange under CLX, making it accessible to public investors.

What's interesting is the contrast. Clorox built its reputation on chemical cleaning products. Burt's Bees markets itself as earth-friendly and natural. That tension raised eyebrows when the acquisition happened in 2007, though Clorox positioned the purchase as expanding into the "natural/sustainable business platform."

Burt's Bees Ownership History

The Founding (1984-1999)

Burt Shavitz and Roxanne Quimby started Burt's Bees in 1984 in Maine. Burt was a beekeeper selling honey. Roxanne was an artist living off the land. The origin story—Burt picking up hitchhiking Roxanne in his yellow pickup truck—has become part of the brand mythology.

Roxanne noticed Burt had stockpiled leftover beeswax from his honey operation. She started making candles. They sold them at a Dover-Foxcroft craft fair for $200. By the end of that first year, they'd made $20,000 in sales.

The first headquarters was an abandoned one-room schoolhouse they rented from a friend for $150 a year. Basic setup.

Through the late 1980s, the product line expanded beyond candles and honey into furniture polish, edible spreads, and eventually personal care products. A 1989 order from a New York City boutique called Zona—hundreds of beeswax candles—forced them to scale up production. They hired 40 employees and moved into an abandoned bowling alley.

Lip balm, introduced in 1991, became the bestseller. The company incorporated that same year. By 1994, they'd outgrown Maine and moved operations to North Carolina, closer to suppliers and distribution networks.

Quimby's Solo Ownership (1999-2004)

The partnership didn't last. In 1993, Roxanne Quimby forced Burt Shavitz out of company operations after learning he'd had an affair with an employee. Shavitz retained his ownership stake but lost operational control.

Six years later, in 1999, Quimby bought Shavitz's one-third stake in the business. The price? Approximately $130,000, structured as a house in Maine. That's what a third of a rapidly growing natural products company was worth in the transaction.

Shavitz, the face of the brand—literally, his bearded portrait appeared on products—was out. Quimby became sole owner and drove the company's expansion through the early 2000s. By this point, Burt's Bees had national distribution in major retailers like Whole Foods and Cracker Barrel, selling over 100 natural personal care products.

Private Equity Ownership (2004-2007)

In 2004, private equity firm AEA Investors purchased 80% of Burt's Bees for $173 million. Quimby retained a 20% stake and a seat on the company board.

After this deal closed, Burt Shavitz sought compensation. Having sold his stake to Quimby for $130,000 five years earlier, he watched the company he co-founded get valued in the hundreds of millions. He received a $4 million payment.

AEA Investors held majority ownership for approximately three years. What they did during that time isn't publicly detailed, but private equity firms typically focus on operational improvements and preparing companies for sale. AEA accomplished the latter—flipping their investment to Clorox in 2007 for a substantial return.

Clorox Acquisition (2007-Present)

On October 31, 2007, Clorox announced it would acquire 100% of Burt's Bees for $925 million, net of a $25 million tax benefit payment. The deal closed by year's end.

At the time, Burt's Bees had estimated annual sales around $170 million, making the purchase price roughly 5.4 times revenue. Clorox structured the transaction as a merger, buying out all existing stockholders—both AEA Investors' 80% and Quimby's remaining 20%.

Clorox's stated rationale focused on entering the fast-growing natural personal care market, which represented about $6.4 billion in U.S. sales and was growing at 9% annually. The company's press release described Burt's Bees as "well-anchored in sustainability and health and wellness" and aligned with consumer trends—what Clorox called "megatrends"—in those areas.

The acquisition came with promises of continuity. CEO John Replogle would stay on to lead the company. Operations would remain based in North Carolina. Clorox emphasized wanting to preserve Burt's Bees' culture and organizational capabilities while leveraging Clorox's marketing and distribution strengths.

By 2007, Burt's Bees manufactured over 150 products distributed in nearly 30,000 retail outlets across the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Canada, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

What Happened to the Founders?

Burt Shavitz

Burt Shavitz received approximately $130,000 when Roxanne Quimby bought his one-third stake in 1999. The payment was structured as a house in Maine—not cash.

In 2004, after Quimby sold majority ownership to AEA Investors for $173 million, Shavitz sought additional compensation. He was paid $4 million. That's where his financial benefit from Burt's Bees ended. When Clorox bought the company in 2007, Shavitz no longer had any ownership stake.

He became the subject of a 2013 documentary called "Burt's Buzz," which explored his life as the reluctant face of a multinational brand. The documentary followed him from his rural Maine farm to promotional appearances in Taiwan, where fans lined up for autographs. Shavitz died in 2015.

Roxanne Quimby

Roxanne Quimby owned 20% of Burt's Bees when Clorox purchased the company in 2007. Based on the $925 million sale price, her stake would have been worth approximately $185 million, though the exact terms of her payout aren't publicly disclosed.

After the sale, Quimby focused on land conservation. She used profits from Burt's Bees to purchase over 185,000 acres of Maine forest land, which she worked to preserve and eventually donate toward a proposed Maine Woods National Park.

Her involvement with Burt's Bees ended with the Clorox sale. No documented connection to the brand exists beyond 2007.

Clorox Shareholder Structure

Since Clorox owns Burt's Bees and Clorox is publicly traded, understanding who owns Clorox answers the deeper question of who ultimately owns Burt's Bees.

As of December 2023, Clorox had 130,767,160 shares of Stock A outstanding, each carrying one vote. The company holds 6,660,827 shares as treasury stock. The remaining 123,906,852 shares trade freely on the New York Stock Exchange.

Approximately 1,460 institutional investors own Clorox shares. The largest institutional shareholders are:

Vanguard Group: 12.27% (15,228,948 shares)
BlackRock: 8.15%
State Street: 6.77%
FMR: 2.41%
Geode Capital: 2.38%
Morgan Stanley: 1.89%

Company insiders own 0.16% of Clorox. As of March 2024, CEO Linda Rendle held 80,630 shares, the largest insider position. CFO Kevin Jacobsen held 37,260 shares.

The rest is owned by individual retail investors—people who buy CLX stock through brokerage accounts.

So when you trace ownership all the way back, Burt's Bees is ultimately owned by millions of Clorox shareholders, with the largest chunks controlled by institutional investment firms managing retirement funds, index funds, and other pooled assets.

How Burt's Bees Operates Under Clorox

Burt's Bees functions as a Clorox subsidiary. It maintains its own brand identity and product line but operates under Clorox's corporate umbrella.

The 2007 press release promised the company would remain based in North Carolina with leadership continuity. That held true initially—CEO John Replogle stayed on until 2011. Nick Vlahos, a Clorox veteran, took over as vice president and general manager in 2011 and led the brand until 2017.

Burt's Bees still produces natural personal care products marketed as earth-friendly. The brand positioning hasn't fundamentally changed, though it now collaborates with other Clorox brands. In January 2024, Burt's Bees partnered with Hidden Valley Ranch (also owned by Clorox) to create limited-edition lip balms in flavors like Buffalo Sauce and Ranch. Marketing stunts like this leverage the shared corporate parent.

What's not publicly documented: the degree of operational independence, whether product formulations changed post-acquisition, or how manufacturing processes evolved under Clorox ownership. The company doesn't disclose those details.

What is clear: Clorox integrated Burt's Bees into its portfolio while preserving the brand name and natural product positioning that made it valuable in the first place.

Summary

The Clorox Company has owned Burt's Bees since 2007, when it acquired the natural personal care brand for $925 million. The brand's ownership journey started with founders Burt Shavitz and Roxanne Quimby in 1984, transitioned to Quimby's sole ownership in 1999, briefly passed through private equity firm AEA Investors from 2004-2007, and has remained with Clorox since.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who currently owns Burt's Bees?

The Clorox Company owns 100% of Burt's Bees. Clorox acquired the brand in 2007 for $925 million and operates it as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Since Clorox is publicly traded, institutional investors, individual shareholders, and company insiders indirectly own Burt's Bees through their Clorox stock holdings.

Do the original founders still own Burt's Bees?

No. Burt Shavitz was bought out by co-founder Roxanne Quimby in 1999. Quimby sold her remaining 20% stake when Clorox acquired the company in 2007. Neither founder has ownership in the brand today, and both are no longer involved with its operations.

Is Burt's Bees still an independent company?

No. Burt's Bees operates as a subsidiary of The Clorox Company, not as an independent business. While it maintains its brand identity and product focus on natural personal care, it's part of Clorox's portfolio alongside brands like Glad, Brita, and Hidden Valley.

When did Clorox buy Burt's Bees?

Clorox announced the acquisition on October 31, 2007, and completed it by the end of that year. The purchase price was $925 million for 100% ownership. At the time, Burt's Bees had annual sales around $170 million and distributed products in nearly 30,000 retail outlets.

How much did Burt Shavitz make from Burt's Bees?

Burt Shavitz received approximately $130,000 (a house in Maine) when Roxanne Quimby bought his one-third stake in 1999. He later received $4 million in 2004 after private equity firm AEA Investors purchased majority ownership. He did not benefit from the 2007 Clorox sale.