Burt's Bees began as a homespun Maine operation built around Burt Shavitz's beeswax and Roxanne Quimby's commercial drive, but the partnership fractured after the company relocated to North Carolina in 1994. According to the company's history, Quimby forced Shavitz out of its operations after learning that he was having an affair with an employee. The ouster effectively removed the bearded beekeeper whose image had become central to the brand's rustic, anti-corporate identity, even as Burt's Bees moved into automated manufacturing and a former garment factory in Creedmoor, North Carolina.
The financial aftermath made the rupture even more striking. In 1999, Quimby bought Shavitz's one-third stake in the company in exchange for a Maine house valued at approximately $130,000. When private-equity firm AEA Investors purchased 80 percent of Burt's Bees for $173 million in 2004, Shavitz reportedly received $4 million in compensation, while Quimby retained a 20 percent stake and a board seat. Three years later, Clorox acquired the natural-care brand for a reported $925 million. Shavitz spent his final years living on a modest 37-acre property in Maine, far removed from the corporate empire built around his name; the contrast became a defining piece of Burt's Bees lore and was explored in Jody Shapiro's 2014 documentary Burt's Buzz.
