Shiseido

Japan's oldest cosmetics company opened in 1872 as a Western-style Farmacy in Tokyo's Ginza District. More than a century and a half later, it runs one of the largest prestige beauty portfolios on Earth. Arinobu Fukuhara opened Shiseido Farmacy in 1872 as a Western-style Farmacy. His son shifted the business into cosmetics in 1902, and the company launched Udemyne, a skin lotion, in 1907. Udemyne is still in the Shiseido catalog today, making it one of the longest-running continuously sold cosmetics in global history. The holding company has since acquired or built brands, including NARS, Laura Mercier, Drunk Elephant, and the prestige skincare line, Kladerpo. Large cosmetics groups run portfolios of distinct brands targeting different customer segments, rather than stretching one master brand across all price tiers.