Neutrogena, the skin care company launched in Los Angeles in 1930, is closing its West Coast headquarters and moving its operations to New Jersey.
The company, in a notice filed two months ago with the California Employment Development Department, said it would be laying off 84 employees, effective Friday.
The move comes after Johnson & Johnson, which acquired Neutrogena 30 years ago, spun off part of the company last August into an independent, publicly traded company called Kenvue Inc. Kenvue is headquartered in Skillman, N.J., but all operations are being moved to a new location in Summit, N.J.
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In a statement, Kenvue’s media department said the company is evolving its operations “to reach more consumers, optimize collaboration and broaden talent and career opportunities for all Kenvuers and drive sustainable growth. As part of this, we will be consolidating operations from other sites to one location, our future world headquarters in Summit, New Jersey.…Decisions impacting our employees are never easy. We are fully committed to providing those affected by this change with the resources and support they may need.”
Kenvue is an enormous company whose annual revenues last year totaled $15.44 billion, with net income of $1.664 billion. Its brands cover a host of beauty and health care products that include Aveeno, Band-Aid, Benadryl, Zyrtec, Listerine, Mylanta, Neutrogena and Tylenol. Neutrogena and other skin and beauty products make up about 20 percent of revenues, according to financial filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
In the most recent fourth quarter of 2023, Kenvue reported an 8 percent drop in organic sales for its skin health and beauty segment.
In 2021, Johnson & Johnson, who still owned Neutrogena at the time, was hit with a number of class action lawsuits in several states for reportedly violating state consumer fraud regulations. They were accused of not disclosing that some Neutrogena and Aveeno sunscreen products allegedly contained benzene, which has been established to cause cancer in humans. Those cases were consolidated, and a nationwide class settlement was reached last year where Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay a $1.75 million settlement. However, that decision is being appealed in the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Neutrogena has been a legend in Los Angeles’ history of small ideas that became big business. It was founded in 1930 by Emanuel Stolaroff, who manufactured cosmetics and other products. In 1954, Stolaroff met Belgian chemist Edmond Fromont and acquired the U.S. rights to distribute a patented formula to make a mild clear soap that cleaned skin without drying it.
By then, Lloyd Cotsen had joined the company after marrying the boss’s daughter, Joanne Stolaroff. In 1962, the company name was changed to Neutrogena Corp. Soon Cotsen, who had an MBA from Harvard, embarked on a major marketing campaign by giving samples of the clear soap made in an amber hue to dermatologists who passed it on to their patients. He also shared it with hotels that stocked guests’ bathrooms with the clean-smelling product.
The marketing technique was a concept before its time, and it paid off. In 1994, the soap company that had expanded into skin care and hair care was sold to Johnson & Johnson for $924 million. Cotsen at the time was the president and chief executive officer. He passed away in 2017.
