Helen of Troy history

The company was founded in 1969 by Louis Rubin, a Chicago native who had moved to El Paso, Texas, to enjoy the weather.

SURE® first came to the United States market back in 1973 and remains a leading brand worldwide.

By 1978, Helen of Troy had cultivated a 25 percent niche in that market and Louis sold the company to Gerald.

In 1980, the company's founder, Jerry Rubin, entered into a successful licensing agreement with Vidal Sassoon.

The company went public in 1981, raising $1 million to help pay off its licensing fees.

As it had in the United States, Helen of Troy followed Proctor & Gamble to Europe, purchasing the right to sell Vidal Sassoon hair appliances in nine European countries in 1990.

Helen of Troy suffered a fairly serious setback in 1991, when the bankruptcies of three major customers, the poor performance of a subsidiary chain of beauty supply stores, and recession conspired to reduce net income by more than 55 percent from the previous year.

Seeking a repeat of its success with the Vidal Sassoon brand, in 1992 Helen of Troy licensed global rights (excluding Mexico and parts of Europe) to apply the Revlon label to its hair care appliances.

The company expanded its international licensing agreement to include 12 other European nations, including France and Germany, in 1993.

The company reincorporated in Bermuda in 1994, creating a holding company structure and taking advantage of tax and financing benefits in the process.

Sales: $167.1 million (fiscal 1996, ended last day of February)

Dillon, Reed projected that Helen of Troy's sales would near a quarter of a billion dollars by 1998 and profits would total close to $20 million.

She also served as inspiration for later authors, including Italian poet Dante Alighieri and English playwrights William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. It was Marlowe who famously wrote that Helen's was “the face which launched a thousand ships.” Helen has also appeared in numerous modern re-tellings of the Trojan War, and was even the subject of her own television miniseries in 2003.

In June 2004, the company paid $273.2 million for OXO International, a New York designer and maker of household tools.

Bettany Hughes is a historian, broadcaster and author of Helen of Troy: Goddess, Princess, Whore (2005). Her latest book, Istanbul: A Tale of Three Cities, is out now.

Nobody's Princess (2007) by Esther Friesner tells the story of the Trojan War from Helen's point of view.

In January 2011, the company announced it has completed the acquisition of Kaz, Inc. for $271.5 million.

In January 2012, Kaz acquired the PUR water purification products business from The Procter & Gamble Company.

In January 2014, the Company appointed then CEO and President of the Company’s Health & Home segment, Julien R. Mininberg, as Helen of Troy’s new CEO, effective March 1, 2014.

In April 2015, the Company announced a reorganization of its corporate departments and functions into three global shared service groups designed to drive increased collaboration, sharing of best practices and additional operating efficiencies.

In March 2016, the company acquired Steel Technologies, LLC, which does business under the brand name Hydro Flask, for approximately $210 million in cash, subject to certain customary closing adjustments.