Pat McGrath Labs is going through a major restructuring, not shutting down.
The Black-owned beauty brand, founded by Dame Pat McGrath, is selling its assets, both collateral pledged by the cosmetics label and by its founder, at a public auction that will be conducted January 27. Hilco Global, the company managing the sale of assets, did not immediately reply to ESSENCE’s request for comment confirming which assets are for sale.
To note, PML has been “going through restructuring and recapitalization processes” since at least December 2025, according to a spokesperson, as reported by Business of Fashion.
The makeup brand was valued at $1 billion just eight years ago when it got an investment from French private equity firm Eurazeo in 2018, but over the years, it changed hands, and the original billion-dollar valuation plummeted. Eurazeo quietly exited in 2021, three years after entering. Early 2025, Sienna Investment Managers got in and marked down its stake, putting the label’s value closer to $174 million.
McGrath’s brand launched in 2015 as an extension of her legendary makeup artistry and impact in fashion, where she’s hailed as one of the greatest MUAs. Known for leading makeup backstage at fashion shows, from Alexander McQueen to Dior, her makeup line not only offered high-quality cosmetics with great payoff but more inclusive shade ranges, too.
Behind the scenes, things weren’t so golden. Executive turnover, layoffs, and more signaled something else was going on behind the scenes. “The environment that I had stepped into was not exactly what was depicted to me (and in all fairness I think no one really had the proper grip of the full situation),” former senior exec Rabih Hamdan told BoF after departing PML. Former employees reported a “chaotic working atmosphere.”
News about PML auctioning off its assets comes at a time when brands across fashion and beauty are struggling, and Black-owned brands in particular have been hit hard, like beloved beauty brand Ami Colé that closed in the summer of 2025.
Though a Pat McGrath Labs spokesperson told BoF in December that sales have improved “significantly” since the beginning of the 2025, the future of the brand remains uncertain. McGrath — who became the creative director of Louis Vuitton’s makeup line that launched in August 2025 — will continue leading PML, too.