Nexus Capital Management

What is Nexus Capital Management?
Nexus Capital Management is a private equity firm founded in 2018 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California, that focuses on middle-market consumer and retail investments.

Who owns Dollar Shave Club now?
Dollar Shave Club is owned by Nexus Capital Management, which acquired the brand from Unilever in late 2023. Unilever had originally acquired Dollar Shave Club in 2016 for approximately $1 billion.

Why did Unilever sell Dollar Shave Club?
Unilever sold Dollar Shave Club because the brand underperformed expectations under Unilever's ownership. Dollar Shave Club faced intensifying competition and struggled to grow its subscriber base, leading Unilever to write down the brand's value significantly before selling it to Nexus Capital.

How much did Nexus Capital pay for Dollar Shave Club?
The purchase price was not publicly disclosed, but it was widely reported to be significantly less than the $1 billion Unilever paid in 2016.

Is Nexus Capital Management publicly traded?
No, Nexus Capital Management is a privately held private equity firm and is not publicly traded.

Nexus Capital Management was founded in 2018 as a private equity firm focused on middle-market consumer investments. The firm was established to capitalize on opportunities in the consumer products sector, particularly among established brands that had underperformed under previous ownership or could benefit from operational improvements.

The firm's most significant transaction to date came in late 2023 with the acquisition of Dollar Shave Club from Unilever. Dollar Shave Club had been acquired by Unilever in 2016 for approximately $1 billion, making it one of the largest acquisitions of a direct-to-consumer startup at the time. However, Dollar Shave Club struggled to grow under Unilever's ownership, facing intensifying competition from Gillette (owned by Procter and Gamble), Harry's, and other brands.

Unilever wrote down the value of Dollar Shave Club significantly in the years following the acquisition, reflecting the brand's underperformance. In 2023, Unilever agreed to sell Dollar Shave Club to Nexus Capital Management for an undisclosed price, widely reported to be a fraction of the original $1 billion acquisition price.

Nexus Capital's acquisition of Dollar Shave Club represented an opportunity to revitalize the brand by refocusing it on its core direct-to-consumer subscription model and reducing the overhead costs associated with operating as part of a large consumer goods conglomerate.

Under Nexus Capital ownership, Dollar Shave Club has worked to rebuild its subscriber base and refocus on its core value proposition of affordable, convenient razor and grooming product delivery.

Nexus Capital Management has not been subject to significant public controversy. The acquisition of Dollar Shave Club from Unilever was widely covered in business media as an example of a major consumer brand acquisition that failed to deliver expected returns for the acquirer.