Jo Malone sold Jo Malone London because her success was "starting to backfire".
Jo Malone
The British perfumer founded her eponymous label in 1983 but was forced to sell the company 16 years later to Estée Lauder because she found she was coming face to face with more restrictions that inhibited her from doing "all the things" she wanted to achieve with the brand.
Speaking about her beauty and skincare business, she said: "I sold the brand because, as I said, we were rolling out around the world and it was getting tighter and tighter and what was happening was success was starting to backfire. So we couldn't do all the things."
And the mogul has revealed she had a specific requirement when she passed over the reins to Jo Malone London, as she wanted a company to take it over that had "heart", and understood her, which she believed the cosmetics giant had.
She explained: "I was looking for three things - it was really important for my company, you really have to work out what you want. I wanted money in pockets, I needed funding. I needed distribution, so I needed somebody who understood the rest of the world. But more importantly I needed heart, I needed somebody who really understood me and of course the industry.
"So when I met the amazing Leonard Lauder that morning and I met this man and had breakfast with him and the courting process began.
"But I knew Estee Lauder had absolutely all of those three things
Although Jo has admitted she "never" intended to quit the brand, she felt free when she sold Jo Malone London.
Speaking at the Mayfair Collective event, which was attended by BANG Showbiz, the entrepreneur - who has since launched Jo Loves - said: "When I sold the brand, 18 months later after, I thought I was going to stay with it forever so when I sold it I was like 'Wow, how amazing, I can travel around the world and carry on doing everything I love to do!' So when I sold it I never intended to walk away but life doesn't always deal you the cards that you think you should have and that's what we didn't know. But at the time when we sold it, I intended to stay forever."
Tagged in Jo Malone