Who owns Drunk Elephant?
Drunk Elephant is owned by Shiseido (Japan, TSE: 4911), which has owned the brand since 1 December 2019.[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Shiseido Company, Limited Integrated Report 2025, 31 March 2026. Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Shiseido Company, Limited reported
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇯🇵 Japan, Tokyo
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, Houston, Texas
- Founded
- 2012
- Category
- Personal care & beauty › Skin care › Facial skin care
- Parent ticker
- TSE: 4911
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Drunk Elephant
Drunk Elephant was founded in 2012 around the argument that six common ingredient classes, including essential oils and drying alcohols, cause most skin problems and should be excluded. Shiseido acquired it in 2019 for about $845 million. Its brightly coloured packaging and its insistence that products can be mixed together set the tone for a wave of imitators.
Ownership timeline of Drunk Elephant
Where Drunk Elephant sits in Shiseido
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Shiseido ownership tree →
See the full Shiseido brand portfolio (6) →
Other brands owned by Shiseido
Shiseido controls 6 brands on Brandtree, 6 of them in personal care & beauty.
Also in personal care & beauty
- Anessa (1992)
- Clé de Peau Beauté (1982)
- NARS (1994)
- Senka (2011)
- Shiseido (1897)
Other brands in facial skin care, and who owns them
The 76 brands in facial skin care on Brandtree belong to 38 owners. The largest is POLA ORBIS, with 6; Shiseido has 4.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| DECENCIA | POLA ORBIS | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Clinique | Estée Lauder | 🇺🇸 United States |
| ANYA | Proya | 🇨🇳 China |
| COSRX | Amorepacific | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Paula's Choice | Unilever | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| ALBION | KOSÉ | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| O HUI | LG H&H | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| ageLOC | Nu Skin | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: Shiseido
Shiseido is a publicly listed company headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, founded in 1872. Brandtree records 6 brands under its control, and it is listed as TSE: 4911.
Shiseido was founded in Tokyo in 1872 as the first Western-style pharmacy in Japan and moved into cosmetics in 1897 with a skin lotion. It is the oldest cosmetics company in the world still operating and the largest in Japan, with a portfolio spanning mass, prestige and dermatological skin care.
🇺🇸 Drunk Elephant and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Drunk Elephant among them.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Drunk Elephant?
The parent company of Drunk Elephant is Shiseido, a publicly listed company headquartered in Japan.
Is Drunk Elephant American or Japanese?
Drunk Elephant originated in the United States in 2012, but it is owned today by Shiseido, which is headquartered in Japan. So Drunk Elephant is an American-origin brand under Japanese ownership.
Since when has Shiseido owned Drunk Elephant?
Shiseido has owned Drunk Elephant since 1 December 2019.
Is Drunk Elephant still owned by Shiseido?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Drunk Elephant is still owned by Shiseido. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Shiseido Company, Limited Integrated Report 2025 — Shiseido Company, Limited, Annual report, published 31 March 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
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