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  • Burt’s Bees Co-founder Burt Shavitz Forced Out, Documentary Premieres

    Burt’s Bees Co-founder Burt Shavitz Forced Out, Documentary Premieres

    Burt’s Bees co-founder Burt Shavitz was reportedly forced out of his company after he had an affair with an employee. The reclusive beekeeper returned to his home in Parkman, Maine, where he doesn’t appear upset by the ousting at all.

    “In the long run, I got the land, and land is everything. Land is positively everything. And money is nothing really worth squabbling about. This is what puts people six feet under. You know, I don’t need it,” he said of his home and property where the company was launched in the 1980s.

    The Burt’s Bees co-founder is now the subject of a documentary opening Friday in select cities across the U.S. It opened on Tuesday in Miami for a 3-day run. Burt’s Buzz will tell the story behind the 79-year-old who sold honey following time spent in the U.S. Army and shooting photos for Time-Life. The film premiered to huge crowds in Taiwan, with Shavitz holding court akin to that of a rock star.

    It was back when Burt Shavitz met Roxanne Quimby–described as a hitchhiking ‘back-to-the-lander’ and single mom–that he went from his hippie honey-selling days to half of a multi-million dollar success story.

    Quimby started making products from Shavitz’s beeswax and the rest–as they say–is history. Not all that history was pleasing to the Burt’s Bees co-founder, however.

    “Roxanne Quimby wanted money and power, and I was just a pillar on the way to that success,” Shavitz says in the documentary.

    Quimby made more than $300 million when she sold Burt’s Bees. She disagrees that Shavitz was treated improperly.

    “Everyone associated with the company was treated fairly, and in some cases very generously, upon the sale of the company and my departure as CEO. And that, of course, includes Burt,” she wrote in an email statement.

    The Burt’s Bees co-founder now lives in a home with no hot water. He doesn’t complain about his humble life, however, although it’s a far cry from his business trips around the world and his stays in 4-star hotels.

    Most people believed that Burt Shavitz left Burt’s Bees of his own volition. Instead he was forced out and given 37 acres of land and a sum of money. He doesn’t seem any worse for wear, however. The documentary will likely shed new details on the ousting as well as the life the former Burt’s Bees co-founder once lived.

    Image via YouTube

  • Burt’s Bees Co-Founder Ousted After Affair With Employee

    The public always thought that Burt Shavitz of Burt’s Bees left his own company in order to live a private life in Maine.

    Shavitz is the subject of the upcoming documentary Burt’s Bees and he revealed the real story behind his sudden escape from his corporate life. According to Shavitz, he was ousted by Burt’s Bees co-founder Roxanne Quimby after his affair with one of their employees.

    When he left the business, he was given 37 acres in Maine and a sum of money. “In the long run, I got the land, and land is everything. Land is positively everything. And money is nothing really worth squabbling about. This is what puts people six feet under. You know, I don’t need it,” he said in an interview.

    In the interview, Shavitz refused to discuss his relationship with his former business partner. He only said, “What I have in this situation is no regret. The bottom line is she’s got her world and I’ve got mine, and we let it go at that.”

    Shavitz, 79, served in the Army as a photographer for Time-Life. When he got back, he made a living by selling honey in Maine. His chance encounter with Quimby changed his simple life. Quimby started to make products from Shavitz’s beeswax.

    In the documentary Shavitz said, “Roxanne Quimby wanted money and power, and I was just a pillar on the way to that success.”

    Quimby sent an email to the Associated Press and said that everyone in her company was treated fairly “and in some cases very generously.”

    Shavitz now resides in a small house with no hot water. His life today is very different from the life he had when he was running a business. He is happy with his life now, living with three golden retrievers in a wide expanse of land. “No one has ever accused me of being ambitious,” he said in the documentary.

    Image via YouTube

  • Burt’s Bees Co-Founder Ousted Over Affair

    It was humble beginnings and a moment of chance for the company that would later call itself Burt’s Bees, when Maine artist Roxanne Quimby was thumbing a ride home in 1984 and Burt Shavitz, a local man well known for his honey stand, pulled over to give her a lift.

    The partnership that began when Roxanne started making candles out of the unused wax from Burt’s beehives, eventually grew to mega-proportions, moving from Maine to Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, and selling to Clorox for $925 million in 2007, according to Forbes.

    Now, Burt is the feature of a documentary and he tells the real reason he left the company: He was ousted by Roxanne after he had an affair with an employee. He ended up with 37 acres of land in Maine and an undisclosed sum of money. And he’s not complaining either.

    “In the long run, I got the land, and land is everything. Land is positively everything. And money is nothing really worth squabbling about. This is what puts people six feet under. You know, I don’t need it,” he told The Associated Press.

    He also declined to discuss his relationship with Roxanne. “What I have in this situation is no regret. The bottom line is she’s got her world and I’ve got mine, and we let it go at that.”

    The documentary, shot by director Jody Shapiro, gets Burt to open up about his dual life as a man living in Maine with rural ideals to a spokesman for Burt’s Bees who travels the world and is especially popular in Taiwan, according to Cleveland.com.

    The documentary does not feature Roxanne and is limited on details about the relationship between Roxanne and Burt and the dissolution of their business partnership.

    “Everyone associated with the company was treated fairly, and in some cases very generously, upon the sale of the company and my departure as CEO. And that, of course, includes Burt,” Roxanne said in an email to The Associated Press.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons