Ariana Grande has reached a deal to buy assets tied to her r.e.m. beauty brand from a company that recently filed for bankruptcy, according to a court filing.
The agreement to purchase r.e.m.’s physical assets, including existing inventory, from Forma Brands is valued at roughly $15 million. The transaction needs approval from the judge overseeing the bankruptcy case in Delaware, according to court documents filed on Jan. 27. Forma, which owns the Morphe cosmetics brand, had already agreed to end a licensing agreement with r.e.m. shortly before its Chapter 11 filing, paving the way for the asset sale.
Grande and her team have been trying to regain control of the brand since October 2022, according to court records, around the time when Forma representatives first acknowledged it was considering bankruptcy protection among a number of options to shore up its fragile financial position.
The 29-year-old pop star licensed her name, image and likeness exclusively to Forma Brands in December 2020 and then debuted her space-themed beauty brand shortly after to much fanfare. Its products debuted in Ulta Beauty locations last year and were a top sales driver in the quarter through Dec. 1, according to the cosmetics chain.
Forma executives had at one point expected Grande’s brand to tally about $84 million in sales for fiscal year 2022, according to a December 2021 company presentation reviewed by Bloomberg. But according to two former employees who asked not to be identified, r.e.m. failed to meet internal projections.
Representatives for Grande and Forma Brands declined to comment.
By Kevin Simauchi
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