Ariana Grande

Overview

Ariana Grande bought her own brand out of bankruptcy court. In February 2023, after her licensing partner Forma Brands filed for Chapter 11 in the Delaware bankruptcy court, Grande reached a deal to purchase the physical assets of r.e.m. beauty — the cosmetics brand she founded in 2021 — for an estimated $15 million, inventory and all (TheIndustry.beauty). The licensing agreement between r.e.m. beauty and Forma had already ended shortly before the January 12, 2023 bankruptcy filing, and the asset sale needed approval from the court overseeing the case (TheIndustry.beauty). It is the kind of move you expect from a distressed-debt investor, not a pop star — and it makes Grande one of the few celebrity founders to personally reacquire a brand from the wreckage of someone else’s bankruptcy. “In February 2023, Ariana Grande reacquired her r.e.m. beauty brand from Forma Brands for about $15 million,” confirmed trade journal Global Cosmetic Industry, which also reported that Forma’s lenders — Jefferies Finance, Cerberus Capital Management and &vest — bought the rest of the company for $690 million while Forma closed all of its U.S. stores (Global Cosmetic Industry). The pop stardom is the famous part. The bankruptcy-court deal is the part that shows how she handles a balance sheet.

The recording career

Grande was born Ariana Grande-Butera on June 26, 1993, in Boca Raton, Florida (Grammy.com). Her music breakthrough came with “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, her first Top 10 single, drawn from her chart-topping debut album Yours Truly (Grammy.com). Her first Grammy nominations arrived in 2015 — one for “Bang Bang,” the Jessie J collaboration with Nicki Minaj, and one for the album My Everything — and she made her Grammy stage debut at the 57th ceremony that same year (Grammy.com).

The full arc, per the Recording Academy’s own artist page: she was discovered at age 8 by Gloria Estefan while performing on a cruise ship; she volunteered in dog-rescue work during her Honeymoon tour of 2014–2015; and through 2026 she holds 3 Grammy wins from 20 nominations (Grammy.com). The three wins span eras — Sweetener took Best Pop Vocal Album in 2019, “Rain On Me” with Lady Gaga won Best Pop Duo/Group Performance in 2021, and at the 2026 ceremony “Defying Gravity” with Cynthia Erivo won the same category (Grammy.com). The 2026 win is a milestone inside the numbers: it is her twentieth nomination and third win (Grammy.com).

Before the records came the acting. In 2013, while starring as Cat Valentine on Nickelodeon’s Sam & Cat — a spin-off of Victorious and iCarly — she was simultaneously creating and promoting Yours Truly (ET Online). “It’s hard to manage the two… I’m doing two full-time jobs at once,” she told ET that September, adding that she loved the character and was “not ready to not play Cat Valentine” (ET Online).

“Bang Bang” and the accidental single

Few hits begin with the star walking away. “Bang Bang,” the 2014 collaboration with Jessie J and Nicki Minaj, was co-written by Grande with Max Martin and others — and according to an executive at Grande’s label, she recorded it but didn’t like it, so it was sent to Jessie J, who recorded her own version (Mix 92.9). Nicki Minaj then added her verse, and when Grande heard the finished product, she decided she wanted to be on it after all (Mix 92.9). It peaked at No. 3 — never reaching No. 1 — earned a Grammy nomination, won Best Collaboration at the MTV VMAs, and has since passed 2 billion YouTube views, a milestone it hit in 2024 (Mix 92.9). It remains one of the defining all-female pop collaborations of the decade.

One Love Manchester

On May 22, 2017, a suicide bombing tore through Grande’s concert at Manchester Arena at the end of her performance. Nearly two weeks later, on June 4, 2017, she returned to the city with One Love Manchester, an all-star benefit concert that the British Red Cross said raised more than £10 million — roughly $13 million — for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund (The Indian Express). Emotional and teary-eyed throughout, Grande performed her hits from “Side to Side” to “Break Free,” sang “The Way” with Mac Miller, and closed the three-hour-plus show with a cover of “Over the Rainbow,” crying onstage as the audience cheered her on (The Indian Express). The lineup she assembled reads like a roster of the decade’s biggest names — Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Coldplay, Pharrell Williams — with Liam Gallagher emerging as a surprise hometown guest to loud cheers (The Indian Express). “Manchester, I love you with all of my heart,” she told the crowd before singing (The Indian Express).

The Wicked arc and the 2026 Oscar shutout

In the 2020s Grande fulfilled a long-held ambition: playing Glinda in Universal Pictures’ two-part film adaptation of Wicked, directed by Jon M. Chu and co-starring Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba (Grammy.com). The first film earned 10 Academy Award nominations in 2025, including Best Supporting Actress for Grande — who lost to Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez — while Erivo lost Best Actress to Mikey Madison for Anora (News18). The film ended up winning two Oscars, for costume and production design.

Then came the cold reversal. When the nominations for the 98th Academy Awards were announced on January 22, 2026, Wicked: For Good received not a single nomination in any category (News18). The shutout was especially stark because the sequel had grossed $524 million at the worldwide box office — the kind of commercial performance that usually commands at least technical nominations (News18). The awards-season pattern had already turned against both stars earlier in the month: Erivo was snubbed entirely at the Critics Choice Awards while Grande’s Best Supporting Actress nomination there went to Amy Madigan for Weapons, and at the Golden Globes, Rose Byrne beat Erivo and Teyana Taylor beat Grande (News18).

Rebuilding r.e.m. beauty

The bankruptcy buyback was only the first move in a deliberate rebuild. Founded in 2021 and launched with four “chapter” collections — ultraviolet, goodnight & go, on your collar and out of body — r.e.m. beauty was set to expand into Sephora across Europe with 81 stores and 13 online sites, including Sephora UK, even as the asset deal was being finalized (TheIndustry.beauty). After taking the brand back, Grande appointed Michelle Shigemasa — the Murad and Smashbox veteran with more than 20 years in beauty — as CEO (Cosmetics Business). She then brought in institutional backing: a strategic investment led by private investment firm Sandbridge Capital, with participation from Strand Equity and her long-term collaborators HYBE America, Live Nation Entertainment and Universal Music Group (Cosmetics Business).

The independent r.e.m. beauty that emerged sells through Ulta in the United States, Sephora across Europe and Selfridges in the United Kingdom, positioning itself as clean and vegan, with the Lustrous Liquid Eyeshadows and Essential Drip Lip Oils as its bestsellers (Cosmetics Business). “This has been a truly inspiring time for me as a founder, turning my passion for art, self-expression and make-up into reality and watching r.e.m. beauty find its wings, especially now during this new era for the brand,” Grande said at the time (Cosmetics Business).

What this profile does not claim

It does not name the corporate entity that bought the assets — court documents referenced in search snippets name AGREM BTY LLC, which was not read in full and is not asserted. It does not state the final outcome of the Delaware court’s approval vote, only that approval was required. It does not cover her Broadway debut in 13, the Victorious run dates, or the details of her other business ventures, since none appeared in fully-read sources. It does not assert net worth or streaming records. Britannica’s profile of Grande was not readable (HTTP 403) and is not cited.