Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand Goop at crossroads as lawsuit, layoffs hit company

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What’s the scoop on Goop?

According to recent reports, its fortunes have begun to droop.

Actress and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow’s lifestyle brand, launched 16 years ago and known for courting controversy with such viral products as This Smells Like My Vagina candles and vaginal eggs, may be nearing its end, reports Spain’s El Pais.

In March, Goop was sued by the sexual wellness brand Good Clean Love for trademark infringement after the company launched a line of sexual wellness products called good.clean.goop.

Then, in early September, Goop laid off 18% of its 216 employees, or about 40 staff, as the company said it was refocusing its business on fashion, beauty and food.

Two months later, Goop underwent a second round of layoffs, accounting for less than 6% of staff losing their jobs.

“There will always be a generation of women for whom Gwyneth feels like a kooky old friend or a goddess guru whose every piece of advice they follow,” Bethan Holt, fashion director at the Telegraph, recently told Page Six.

“But that doesn’t necessarily follow through as major business success any longer, even if Goop has long been a byword for the modern celebrity lifestyle empire.”

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Goop, which began as a wellness newsletter, eventually grew to become a multimillion-dollar empire.

Despite Goop’s apparent struggles, a spokesperson told Business Insider that revenue in 2023 was up year over year and was on track to grow again in 2024, but refused to say if the company is profitable.

The company has raised more than $140 million from investors and is worth a reported $433 million.

But the cash injection hasn’t been easy for Paltrow to navigate, she told a Forbes conference in September.

“You start fielding questions about scale, especially if you’ve taken VC money. And that’s where I think it can be very, very difficult. And frankly, where I’ve made mistakes along the way,” she said.

Paltrow, 52, estimated to be worth $200 million, has said she has an idea for when to step down from the company.

“I mean, I did say to my mom [actress Blythe Danner] that I would do a play when I sell the company,” she told the New York Times last year.