Hello and welcome to World Business Report from the BBC World Service.
I'm David Harper and in just a second we'll be speaking to the CEO of Elf Beauty to find out why they're paying a billion dollars for Hayley Bieber's cosmetics company.
We're also hearing about a BBC investigation that's discovered hundreds of millions of dollars is still being spent on Russian oil and gas by the same countries that have invoked sanctions and people are still pirating live TV,
live sport in particular, on an industrial scale.
Can it ever be stopped?
First, though, the cosmetics industry is, in every sense, about image.
With so many products available in a multi-billion dollar market,
it's as much about who you're buying from as it is the product that you're buying.
Case in point, the beauty brand founded by the model and businesswoman Hailey Bieber.
Rode was only founded in 2022 and it only has 10 products,
but it's being sold to Elf Beauty for a billion dollars.
Well, we're joined by the chair and CEO of Elf, Tarang Amin now.
Thank you very much for joining us on World Business Report.
What is it that you've seen in Rode that has given it so much value?
Well, thank you for having me.
What we see in Rode is another like-minded disruptor.
Elf Beauty was founded 21 years ago, selling cosmetics over the internet for $1.
Everyone thought we were crazy.
You couldn't sell cosmetics over the internet pre-iPhone,
and it certainly couldn't make money at $1.