- Ronald Lauder, Estée Lauder heir, influenced Trump's Greenland purchase idea, according to media reports
- Estée Lauder owns over 20 beauty brands including MAC and Clinique
- Consumers are now boycotting Estée Lauder over political and ethical concerns
It started on Reddit.
A thread titled "Estée Lauder boycott" began circulating on the platform, around 15 days ago, quickly picking up traction. The post, which has now crossed 7,000 upvotes, with comments listing brands owned by the Estée Lauder and urged users to stop buying them.
Photo: Reddit
What began as a niche discussion among skincare and makeup enthusiasts has since spilled over to other social media platforms. On X, users have echoed the boycott call and questioning whether beauty consumers should rethink where their money goes.
To understand why Estée Lauder, a company synonymous with luxury cosmetics, has found itself in the middle of a geopolitical and political storm, let's rewind a few months (and years) to look closely at who controls the company today and where its influence extends.
Who Owns Estée Lauder Today
The Estée Lauder Companies was founded in 1946 by Estée and Joseph Lauder and has long been associated with family leadership. While it is a publicly traded company, control largely remains with the Lauder family through significant shareholding and voting power.
Estée and Joseph Lauder. Photo: Facebook/The Estée Lauder Companies
As of February 2026, The Estée Lauder Companies has a market capitalisation (a common measure of net worth for public companies) of approximately $41.5 billion. The company operates a portfolio of more than 20 distinct prestige beauty brands.
One of the most prominent figures linked to the brand is Ronald Lauder, Estée Lauder's son and heir to the cosmetics fortune. While he is no longer involved in the day-to-day running of the company, his influence as a billionaire, political donor and international dealmaker has increasingly drawn attention.
It is Ronald Lauder's proximity to US president Donald Trump and his business interests in Denmark-controlled Greenland that have become central to the boycott conversation online.
The Estée Lauder Empire
The scale of the Estée Lauder Companies is hard to ignore. Beyond its flagship Estée Lauder brand, the group owns a wide portfolio of globally recognised names, including MAC, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, La Mer, Jo Malone London, Tom Ford Beauty, Aveda, Too Faced, Smashbox, Origins and The Ordinary, among others.
For many consumers participating in the boycott, the revelation that these seemingly distinct brands sit under the same corporate umbrella has been part of the shock. Reddit users have shared long lists of subsidiaries, with some saying they were unaware how consolidated the luxury beauty market really is.
But the backlash is not about cosmetics alone.
Greenland And The Need To Triumph
According to reporting by the Guardian, Ronald Lauder played a key role in planting the idea of the United States acquiring Greenland in Donald Trump's mind during Trump's first term.
"One day during his first term, Donald Trump summoned a top aide to discuss a new idea," former national security adviser John Bolton told the Guardian. "He said a prominent businessman had just suggested the US buy Greenland."
That businessman, Bolton later learned, was Ronald Lauder, a longtime friend of Trump whom he had known for more than six decades. The proposal, widely mocked when it became public in 2019, caused outrage in Denmark, the semi-autonomous Arctic territory.
Ronald Lauder is a longtime friend of Trump whom he had known for more than six decades. Photo: Reuters
The Guardian reported that after Lauder raised the idea, a White House team began exploring ways to increase US influence in Greenland. Trump's interest did not fade with time. In fact, it appears to have deepened.
"Bits of information that he hears from friends, he takes them as truth and you can't shake his opinion," Bolton told the Guardian, describing how Trump revisited the idea years later.
Business Interests And Arctic Ambitions
What has further fuelled criticism is the overlap between Lauder's policy advocacy and his personal investments.
As Trump continued to float the idea of buying or even forcibly taking Greenland, Lauder was quietly building business interests in the region. Danish corporate records cited by the Guardian show that a company with a New York address and unnamed owners has recently invested in Greenlandic ventures.
These include exporting "luxury" spring water from an island in Baffin Bay and plans linked to hydroelectric power projects intended to support aluminium production. A Greenlandic businessman involved in one such venture told a Danish newspaper that Lauder and his investor group had "a very good understanding of and access to the luxury market".
Last year, after Trump returned to the White House, Lauder publicly defended the president's Greenland ambitions. Writing in the New York Post, he argued: "Trump's Greenland concept was never absurd - it was strategic." He went on to describe the island as a "treasure trove of rare-earth elements essential for AI, advanced weaponry and modern technology".
He also added, "I have worked closely with Greenland's business and government leaders for years to develop strategic investments there."
Trump's renewed rhetoric around Greenland has once again strained US-Denmark relations. Denmark's prime minister has warned that military action by one Nato member against another would fracture the alliance. Yet Trump has remained defiant.
For critics, Lauder's role in shaping this trajectory has raised uncomfortable questions about billionaire influence on foreign policy.
Political Donations And Renewed Proximity To Trump
Lauder's relationship with Trump has also evolved over time. While he briefly distanced himself in 2022 after Trump hosted far-right figure Nick Fuentes, Lauder returned as a major financial backer once Trump regained power.
In March 2025, he donated $5 million to Maga Inc, a fundraising group linked to Trump's movement. A month later, he reportedly attended an exclusive candlelit dinner with the president, where tickets cost $1 million each.
The Guardian notes that Lauder's business interests have also intersected with US foreign policy beyond Greenland. He has been named as part of a consortium seeking to exploit lithium deposits in Ukraine, a deal that materialised shortly after Washington and Kyiv signed an agreement to jointly use Ukrainian minerals.
Why Consumers Are Pushing Back
For many participating in the Estée Lauder boycott, the issue is about whether consumers are indirectly funding political agendas, territorial ambitions and elite power networks they do not agree with.
On Reddit and X, users have framed the boycott as an ethical choice rather than a trend.
Whether the boycott has any lasting financial impact on one of the world's largest beauty conglomerates remains to be seen.