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Loading ...Chanel, worth an estimated $1.5 billion, is one of the largest companies in the $4 billion global perfume industry. Chanel started its success with the introduction of Chanel No. 5 perfume, which continued to be a top selling perfume into the 1990s. The company has since diversified its offerings beyond perfumes to include designer clothes and accessories, which are sold in department stores and Chanel boutiques around the world. The company boasts a rich history rife with intrigue, wealth, and scandal.
By the 1990s, the Wertheimer family of France had maintained controlling interest in Chanel for over 100 years. Chanel traces its roots back to 1870, when Ernest Wertheimer moved from Alsace, France, to Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. Shortly after his arrival he purchased an interest in a French theatrical makeup company called Bourjois. Bourjois successfully introduced dry rouge to the European market in the 1890s. The company grew rapidly, and by the early 1920s, Bourjois had begun making and distributing skin creams from his Rochester, New York, plant for cosmetic industry giant Helena Rubenstien. By the 1920s, Bourjois had become the largest cosmetics and fragrance manufacturer in France.
