Because They're Worth It

Owen-Jones has the good fortune to run a company that is not entirely beholden to analysts. Because of a complex arrangement, just over half of L'Oreal's stock is controlled through a holding company that includes Nestle and Liliane Bettencourt, Eugene Schueller's only child and — thanks to her L'Oreal stake — one of the wealthiest people in Europe.

Owen-Jones accepts that L'Oreal might have the odd off year, but in the long term, he sees no reason why all the markets shouldn't keep on growing, even the most developed ones. Take Sensation Totale, a skin-soothing lotion designed to go under the moisturizer that is Lancome's hottest product in the U.S. Does a premoisturizer moisturizer seem like a fanciful idea? Perhaps not in the American market, where women put an average of seven products on their face each morning. And certainly not in the Korean market, where L'Oreal also has a presence. How many products does the average Korean woman apply before she even gets out the front door? Twenty-two.