Honesty is definitely the best policy—at least when it comes to Jessica Alba’s business career.
The actress turned natural beauty mogul saw her Honest Company launch a successful debut on the Nasdaq today, with shares popping 40% from their initial trading price of $16 per share to trade above $22 by 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Alba’s ‘fourth baby’
In a call with Fortune following the IPO, Alba said that though she started the Honest Company in 2011, she has had a business mindset for much longer: “I come from a pretty blue-collar kind of working-class family. And it mattered when I worked. So I was strategic, pretty much since I was 12 years old.” The transition from acting to entrepreneurship to her felt “natural,” she says. Though the mom of three stresses she had some important help along the way in parenting: “My husband is a father of three kids, and he also has a business. And we share the responsibility of raising our kids and also running our businesses and being there for each other.”
And for Alba, 40, it was key to build a business that aligned with what she cared about. “For me, it’s just common sense that a brand has or is aligned with the same values that you have as a person,” she says. “I think what COVID has really taught me is how precious every moment is.” Alba calls Honest her “fourth baby” and indeed founded the company when she was shocked by the lack of natural baby products that were free of harsh chemicals. These days she frames her mission as, “I’m given this gift of life. How can I try and do good with it, and try and do my part in making the world a better place? And that’s, that’s really why I’m here.”
What is the Honest Company’s ticker?
The stock will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker HNST.
What is Jessica Alba’s net worth?
The Honest Company’s S-1 lists Alba as owning 2,822,559 shares or 6.7% of the total prior to the offering. At mid-afternoon Wednesday, with the stock trading just above $22, the value of her holdings on a diluted basis reaches over $90 million. According to Bloomberg, among her other holdings are exercisable options worth $23 million.
CEO Nick Vlahos was listed as owning nearly 1.8 million shares. Board member and private equity veteran Scott Dahnke’s stake—at 15,593,874 shares—represents the largest officer or director stake at 37.5%.
What is Jessica Alba’s salary?
The S-1 states that for the year ended Dec. 31, 2020, Alba’s compensation as chief creative officer was $506,846. But add a bonus and other compensation and that rose to a total of $2.33 million.
On a mission
As Alba puts it, her dual missions are to inspire people who “love living consciously [by] making clean and safe products available to people wherever they want” and then to “[think] through the supply chain” to deliver on that promise. “And if we can make inroads and show that people do want companies that stand for something and have purpose,” she says, “then maybe it will raise the bar for other companies to stand for more than short-term goals.”
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