VO5 is owned by Unilever (the United Kingdom, LSE: ULVR), which acquired the brand on 10 May 2011 from Alberto Culver, as part of a $3.7 billion deal that also included TRESemmé, Simple and 2 others.[1] Before Unilever, VO5 was owned by Alberto Culver to 2011.[1]
Evidence: Unilever PLC Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2025, SEC EDGAR, 12 March 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
VO5 is a hair styling and conditioning brand introduced in 1955 by Alberto Culver, whose founder bought the formula from a Hollywood hairdresser who used it on actresses. The name refers to its five conditioning oils. Unilever acquired it with Alberto Culver in 2011, though United States regulators required the divestiture of the Alberto VO5 line there.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
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Unilever controls 53 brands on Brandtree, 34 of them in personal care & beauty.
The 29 brands in hair colour & styling on Brandtree belong to 16 owners. The largest is Hoyu, with 6.
Unilever is a publicly listed company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, founded in 1929. Brandtree records 53 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: ULVR, NYSE: UL and AEX: UNA.
Unilever is a British consumer goods company formed in 1929 by the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie and British soap maker Lever Brothers. It reports through four business groups: Beauty & Wellbeing, Personal Care, Home Care and Foods. Its ice cream business was demerged as The Magnum Ice Cream Company in December 2025.
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, VO5 among them.
Unilever bought Alberto Culver for $37.50 a share in cash, adding TRESemmé, VO5, Simple, St. Ives and Nexxus to its hair and skin portfolio. Regulators required Unilever to divest the Alberto VO5 and Rave brands in the United States.
The parent company of VO5 is Unilever, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
VO5 originated in the United States in 1955, but it is owned today by Unilever, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So VO5 is an American-origin brand under British ownership.
Unilever completed its acquisition of VO5 on 10 May 2011, after announcing the deal on 27 September 2010. The deal, which also included TRESemmé and Simple and 2 others, was valued at $3.7 billion.
Before Unilever, VO5 was owned by Alberto Culver until 2011.
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, VO5 is still owned by Unilever. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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