Shelley Sullivan certainly knows how to make money. The MCoBeauty founder stepped down as CEO of the brand on Friday, with the valuation of the business “north of $1 billion” after it was sold to DBG Health’s Dennis Bastas. Sullivan is thought to have pocketed $500 million in the deal, according to multiple news outlets.
Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today Sullivan started her career as a receptionist at a modelling agency. She then started her own agencies, which she sold for $1 million in the mid-1990s. Sullivan then poured her money into a heated eyelash curler, selling the product into David Jones, NK in London and Collette in Paris.
It was the start of ModelCo. Sullivan then saw a gap in the market for high-quality “dupe” cosmetics at reasonable prices. This was when MCoBeauty was born, going on to outsell Rimmel, L’Oreal, Maybelline, and all the big brands.
The business was born in 2020, with sales exploding during the pandemic. In its first year, sales topped about $10 million. By 2024, sales topped $262 million during the financial year.
“I think MCoBeauty came at the right time,” Sullivan said on Sunrise on Thursday. “It was COVID. There was a lot of luck as well because back when COVID was on, you couldn’t shop beauty anywhere else.
“We were Woolworths’ main cosmetics brand, so women cruised the aisles of Woolworths with nowhere else to shop but the grocery stores. So, the makeup brand aisle was definitely one shopped heavily. �.
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