John Paul DeJoria Discusses How He is Aiding the Beauty Industry During Coronavirus Pandemic

Yahoo Finance's editor-in-chief Andy Serwer talks with John Paul Dejoria the co-founder of the Paul Mitchell line of hair products and The Patrón Spirits Company. Dejoria discusses the work he has done to aid his home state of Texas as well as how Paul Mitchell is supporting those in need along with their employees and salons during the coronavirus crisis.

Video Transcript

ANDY SERWER: I'm here with John Paul DeJoria, who is the co-founder of Paul Mitchell products and also Patrón spirits. John Paul, so great to see you. Thanks for being on.

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: Always a pleasure speaking with you guys. You're super cool people.

ANDY SERWER: So I want to ask you what wealthy people, what wealthy Americans, can do to help fight against the coronavirus.

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: God, that is a great question to ask, because a lot of people say, is there more of a divide? No, it's better. What they could do is lend a helping hand with their resources.

I've been fortunate enough to have a good hand dealt in my life, obviously, going from homeless to being a successful businessman. So I figure it's time to give back an example. Right now, take my state of Texas, where I live-- needed ventilators. In the charter of the state, and most states are this way, they could not pay in advance for it. All those that have good ventilators want the money in advance.

So all I did was take $20 million worth of stock that I had, and I mortgaged that stock to help out my state. I took that money, and I went ahead and sourced those ventilators for my state. When it arrives, the state will pay me back. Now, did that cost me any money? A little bit. It cost me a few points, because I mortgaged my stock. But not that much, my contribution to my state. So I made no money off of it, lost little to none, but I'm getting the money back.

It's what people can do. Go to your state and say, let me lend a helping hand. A lot of people say, I don't want to do it, because who knows what the economy is going to be like, or I want these opportunities to make more money. How about taking a little bit, paying a little bit of rent for being in that state and helping your fellow person out? That's something they could do.

Another thing we could do, like at Paul Mitchell we did-- we made up an extra 20,000, now it's 40,000 hand sanitizers. Well, that first 20,000 went immediately out to first responders, hospital, older folks, people that need it.

Another thing we could do, for example-- here in Austin, we have a great thing going on now in Austin called Keep Austin Fed. 200 volunteers-- they go to drugstores, restaurants, any place that has a takeout, or grocery stores, get all their extra food. And the volunteers deliver it directly to things like mobile Loaves and Fishes for the homeless, food care centers for people that are in need, older folks. So this food is redistributed. And people get those programs going. I funded a considerable amount of money for that but, it was well worth it. It was giving back to our community. When this is over with, it's going to continue.

ANDY SERWER: JP, you also have a stimulus package, don't you, for--

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: [INAUDIBLE] we do. We believe that since the beauty industry-- Paul Mitchell is a professional beauty company. We sell to the beauty industry. Everything goes back to salons. We wanted them to be in shape. So instead of thinking about how bad things are right now, we put a program together that we paid for. It's about a $4 million value that we put into that immediately.

When our focus salons or centers or salons, premium ones, go back to work, they will have waiting for them. It's going to be there for them. Shampoos, conditioners, everything they need to get back into business, and our finest hair color-- free. We are giving it to them. Here's yours. Because it's an industry that built us over 40 years, why not give back to that industry?

And others should do the same. Yes, it's costing us this valuation of maybe $4 million, but to the salons, it means tens of millions of dollars in revenue. And they could actually go back to work with this in their hands, let their customers know, we're prepared to open up and have a jump start on everybody when we're able to do that again. We have color, everything. Book your appointments. Or let us know. We'll call you.

And another thing we tell them, also, is, don't worry about the regrowth, because no one's going to see you. You're staying home. But when you're ready to go back, by gosh, we're there for you. And that's what we did. And of course, for our own staff at Paul Mitchell, we left them on full pay. So everyone doesn't have to take a cut in pay, because they built our company, and we love them.

Our schools, our Paul Mitchell schools, for example-- all the technical work is now done at home on the computer, where when they go back to school, they could do the hands-on work. Nice things going on out there.

ANDY SERWER: How do you even decide how to do all this stuff? I mean, you're doing all kinds of things, here, there, everywhere. I mean, it's a lot. It sounds like you're really engaged in this process.

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: Well, that I am. And I was fortunate enough in a couple of areas here to be able to be, let's say, in a position where I could do that. And when it's time, people should pay attention to the vital few, ignore the trivia many. To me, the vital fuel is, take care of my people, take care of my industry, take care of my state, take care of my country and the nation. You just focus on that. And if there's 10 things there to do, we have the ability to do it.

ANDY SERWER: So how do you think we're going to get out of this, John Paul?

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: We're going to get out of this in a great way. There's no doubt, this month of April, things suck. They're bad for April. In May, we're going to see a tapering off and starting to come down. This is my personal feeling, from everything I am seeing and people hunkering down at home. And I think by the end of May, getting into June, we're going to start seeing things starting to approach normality.

But here's something good about it. People are aware of what's going on. When I say "normality," it's, nobody minds now wearing a mask. You can go back, let's say, within a month and a half, and open stores up. And you know how to keep a distance, how to wear a mask. Even at sporting events-- it's really hurt sporting events, but people know it's OK to go to sporting events now, if you have a mask on. Nobody cares.

ANDY SERWER: One last quick question. I'm sorry to interrupt, John Paul. What do you say to wealthy people who say, really, this is not my thing, I really shouldn't get involved, I don't want to get involved to help right now?

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: Well, what I would say to you is, you don't have a free ticket to heaven, buddy, OK? In other words, this planet-- all of us came in with nothing, no matter what our parents had, or did not have, in my case. If you don't give back, if you don't do something for somebody else asking nothing in return, you've missed the boat.

Whenever you do something for someone else and use your wealth to do it and ask nothing in return, you get the greatest high in the world, higher than we did in the '60s, OK? Don't be a tightwad. If you've got something, give back. Do something similar to what I did for Texas. It helps them out. You don't lose any money. You're going to get your money back. But you're doing something for all of humanity. Pay a little bit of rent for being on this planet Earth and all the good fortune that God sent your way because you have your extra money.

ANDY SERWER: All right. Great words there. John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Paul Mitchell products and Patrón spirits, thanks so much for joining me.

JOHN PAUL DEJORIA: Can I leave one last message with everybody? In the end, everything will be OK. And if it's not OK, it's not the end.