Purell hand sanitizer looks for a buyer amid falling demand

The maker of Purell hand sanitizer is looking to clean up with a potential sale of the popular product as overall demand for cleaners plummets following the pandemic.  

Ohio-based company Gojo Industries has hired JPMorgan Chase & Co. to run an auction, according to sources familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. 

The family-owned company, which has an annual sales of about $1 billion, could potentially be valued at roughly $3 billion, sources told the Journal. 

“Because of our many strengths, others have always been interested in buying the company,” Gojo spokeswoman Samantha Williams told The Post on Thursday.

Gojo Industries saw a surge in demand during the pandemic as consumers cleared store shelves to protect against infection. In 2018, the company had generated $370 million in revenue, according to market-research firm IBISWorld.

Invented by Gojo in 1988, the family sold the brand in 2004.

It changed hands multiple times before Gojo regained full control from Johnson & Johnson in 2010.

During the pandemic, anti-germ products became an essential product for hospitals, medical practices, offices, schools, factories and businesses aiming to maintain safe operations.

Hand sanitizer sales in the US increased by over 330% in the 12 months leading up to April 1, 2021. 

Gojo has scaled up production capacity dramatically, adding a factory and a warehouse — it previously had just one of each — and restructured its supply chain, all with the expectation that demand for hand sanitizer will remain exponentially higher than before the pandemic. 

In 2020, the company added three manufacturing facilities to fulfill the extra demand. 

But the situation hasn’t quite panned out that way. 

Nationwide hand sanitizer sales decreased by 32% for the 52 weeks ending April 1, compared to the same period the previous year, according to Nielsen.

This decline followed a 67% drop for the same period ending in 2022. (The figures don’t include sales to businesses and other institutions.) 

Gojo also faces a wide range of growing competition — from the maker of Tito’s vodka to Procter & Gamble. 

With Post wires