In short: Named as a mistake of omission — a sale that should not have happened. "Selling Ulta Beauty in March 2025. The stock is up +50% since then." No current view, no valuation, no repurchase intention is expressed; it is listed under "poor investment decisions in the past" with the responsibility accepted — "There is only one person to blame: me." The instructive part is the category: this is the one mistake in the list caused by selling rather than buying, which sits directly against the Munger line quoted five days later — "the best time to sell a great stock is almost never."
Ulta Beauty runs American cosmetics stores. It appears here only as a regret: it was sold in March 2025 and the shares have risen about 50% since.
What makes it worth recording is the type of error. Every other mistake in this article involves buying something that then fell. This one involves selling something that then rose — the mistake you never see in a portfolio statement, because the loss is invisible.
It also sits awkwardly beside the rule quoted five days later, that the best time to sell a great stock is almost never. No view is expressed on Ulta today, and there is no suggestion of buying it back.
In short: Named once, as a distribution channel rather than an investment: L'Oréal's Consumer Products are found "in stores like Sephora or Ulta Beauty". Notable only because Ulta is one of Compounding Quality's two disclosed sells since 2023 — sold after concluding US beauty retail was more competitive and fragmented than modelled, which is the same fragmentation named here as a risk to L'Oréal ("rising threat from niche beauty brands"). No stance is offered in this post.
In short: Recently sold (one of only two sells since 2023). Thought it was a great business / clear US beauty-retail leader, but "the retail beauty space is way more competitive than I initially thought" and is becoming more fragmented (TikTok, influencer brands). A sell = an admitted mistake in the original case.
Ulta Beauty is the leading US beauty retailer, which Slegers bought and then recently sold — one of only two sales he's made since 2023, and he treats every sale as an admission the original decision was a mistake. He'd thought its market leadership made it a durable quality business, but concluded the beauty-retail space is more competitive and more fragmented than he'd assumed, as TikTok creators and influencers launch their own beauty and fragrance brands. So the moat wasn't as wide as his thesis required.
48:56Well, Ulta Beauty, we can't tell whether it was a good decision selling them or not because I sold it very recently. But the reason I sold it is, well, I thought it was a great business. They were the clear market leader in beauty retail in the US. But what I misunderstood or what I made a mistake probably is the retail beauty space is way more competitive than I actually initially thought.
Nothing matches this filter.
Verbatim excerpts from the public transcripts (auto-pulled at each mention's timestamp, lightly cleaned). Timestamps link into the video; "source page" opens that commentator's full analysis at this row. Click a mention's header line to expand it (one open at a time). For personal study — not investment advice.