Beiersdorf AG is a German multinational company that manufactures personal-care products and pressure-sensitive adhesives headquartered in Hamburg, Germany.

Besides Nivea, Beiersdorf is the owner of other brands like 8x4, Eucerin, Labello, La Prairie, Hansaplast and Florena.

Regional research centers are located in Wuhan (China) and Silao (Mexico) so the scientists can respond more effectively to the needs of the local markets.

Troplowitz kept working with his scientific consultant Paul Gerson Unna and the German chemist Isaak Lifschütz on a new skin care cream.

As Lifschütz found the emulsifier Eucerit (= "the beautiful wax"), the basic ingredient of the Nivea Crème was finally there, and they started selling the skin care cream in December 1911.

Due to the pressure of the Nazis, in 1933 Jewish board members, such as the chairman Willy Jacobsohn, had to resign.

Elly Heuss-Knapp, married to Theodor Heuss and after the war the new First Lady of the Federal Republic of Germany, was a freelancer at Beiersdorf and responsible for important parts of the Nivea advertising.

In 1974, the company established a divisional organization, divided into cosmetics, medical, pharma and Tesa.

In 1989, the company started to change its strategic orientation to focus on three key areas: skin care, adhesives technology and wound management.

The company standardized the production processes, unified the international brand policy and focused on cosmetics.

[5] In the 1990s, Beiersdorf repurchased the last missing trademark rights, especially in Great Britain, Australia and South Africa; and became one of the biggest skin care brands in the world.

Finally, in 1997 the last trademark right was bought back by buying a majority stake of the Polish company Beiersdorf-Lechia S.A. in Poznań (today: Nivea Polska sp.

[5] On 1 April 2001, the company founded an independent subsidiary, BSN Medical, as a joint venture of Beiersdorf (Hamburg) and the British-based, American-owned Smith & Nephew (London) and serves the market for surgical dressing, orthopaedics and phlebology.

Fearing that Procter & Gamble was interested only in Beiersdorf's brands and not in the company as a whole, many in Hamburg preferred to retain local ownership.

The Herz family, owner of the German company Tchibo, who already had a stake in Beiersdorf, increased their holdings to 49.9%.

This public-private alliance ensured that Beiersdorf's headquarters would remain in Hamburg and continue to provide hundreds of jobs, while paying taxes of approximately €200 million annually.

[14] Beiersdorf was fined by Autorité de la concurrence in France in 2016 for price-fixing on personal hygiene products.