Burt’s Bees started when a hitchhiker got into a beekeeper’s truck.
In 1984, Roxanne Quimby was hitchhiking in Maine when Burt Shavitz, a beekeeper, gave her a ride. The two started selling beeswax candles at craft fairs, and she made a lip balm from the leftover wax. In 1999 Shavitz traded his stake for a Maine house worth about $130,000. In 2007, Clorox bought the company that still wore his name for $925 million.
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