Neutrogena Parent Kenvue Stock Slides 2% Amid Hayden Panettiere Fans' Calls to Boycott Brand

Shares in Kenvue, the New York-listed owner of Neutrogena, closed 2.14% lower at $18.79 (£13.89) on Monday, 17 August. Kimberly-Clark, the company buying Kenvue, closed down 2.25% at $107.91 (£79.76) on the same day.

That was also the first trading day after the death of actor Hayden Panettiere, whose account of losing a decade-long Neutrogena contract was circulating online alongside calls for a boycott. Neither company has linked the share move to the campaign.

The Terms of the Kimberly-Clark Deal

Under the merger agreement signed on 2 November 2025 and filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, each Kenvue share converts into 0.14625 Kimberly-Clark shares plus $3.50 (£2.59) in cash when the deal completes. At Kimberly-Clark's Monday close, those terms valued a Kenvue share at $19.28 (£14.25).

Kenvue had finished at $19.20 (£14.19) on 14 August. Against the 1.92B basic shares reported for the second quarter, Monday's drop removed roughly $787M (£582M) of market value on volume of 19.4M shares.

Both steadied a day later. Kenvue closed a cent higher at $18.80 on 18 August with 25.5M shares traded, and Kimberly-Clark ended at $107.72, down 0.18%. UBS cut its Kenvue price target to $19 from $20 on 11 August, according to TheFly.

Why Neutrogena Matters to the Numbers

Kenvue sells Tylenol, Listerine, Band-Aid, Aveeno, Johnson's, Zyrtec, and Nicorette alongside Neutrogena. It reported second-quarter net sales of $3.96B (£2.93B) on 6 August.

Its Skin Health and Beauty division accounted for $1.11B (£823M) of that and grew fastest of the three segments, with net sales up 5.1% and organic sales up 3.7%. Kenvue described Neutrogena as 'the largest brand in the segment.' It also said US household penetration for the brand had improved for a third consecutive quarter, with gains across every age group.

Kimberly-Clark agreed to buy Kenvue for an enterprise value of about $48.7B (£36B), or $21.01 (£15.53) a share on prices at the end of October 2025. About 99% of Kenvue shares voted backed the merger on 29 January 2026, representing roughly 77% of all shares outstanding.

Chief executive Kirk Perry said on 6 August that completion is expected in the fourth quarter.

What Hayden Panettiere Said

Panettiere, who was 36, died on 16 August in Greenville, South Carolina. Police said there were no signs of foul play, and the Greenville County Coroner's Office said an autopsy found no signs of trauma.

She had been a Neutrogena ambassador for around a decade. In a podcast interview with Jay Shetty in May 2026, and in her memoir This Is Me: A Reckoning, published the same month, she said the relationship ended after she discussed postpartum depression on Live! with Kelly and Michael in 2015.

She had given birth to her daughter Kaya in December 2014.

Panettiere said the brand cited a morality clause and moved to terminate the deal, and that her representative objected. She recalled the response as: 'That's illegal, you can't do that.' By her account the existing contract ran its course and was not renewed.

Where the Backlash Sits

The claims resurfaced after her death. A Reddit post proposing a boycott passed 5,000 upvotes, and a post on X carrying the same call passed 39,000 likes and had 1.1M views.

TMZ said the company's social media accounts had been flooded with critical comments, and that it had contacted Kenvue several times without a reply. The Tab also approached Neutrogena for comment.

Kenvue has not publicly responded to Panettiere's account, and Neutrogena has never confirmed her version of why the partnership ended. Neither company has reported any change to sales or orders.

Kenvue is not issuing forward-looking guidance while the takeover is pending, and did not hold a call on its second-quarter results.