Jessica Alba might hear a loud cha-ching! in her bank account soon.
On Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported Unilever PLC—which oversees popular brands like Dove, Lipton and Axe—is currently in discussions to buy the actress' billion-dollar company, Honest Co.
A spokesperson for Unilever tells E! News, "We don't comment on market speculation."
However, WSJ is reporting the company is in early talks to make a $1 billion deal with Alba and Honest Co., which is a drop from the company's $1.7 billion valuation.
Honest Co. has yet to respond about the speculation.
Alba founded the company with Christopher Gavigan, Sean Kane and Brian Lee in 2011 with a mission to sell sustainable, natural baby, beauty and household products that are safe for families and children.
The company has raised more than $200 million in the last five years from investors and reportedly generates roughly $300 million in revenue.
However, it hasn't found success without problems.
In September 2015, a class action lawsuit was filed against Honest Co., which asked for a minimum of $5 million after alleging the company changed the formula for its SPF 30 sunscreen and removed more than half of the zinc oxide (the chemical that protects against the sun), causing a number of users to get sunburned.
Just a few weeks before that, another consumer filed a different lawsuit against the company, claiming the brand "deceptively and misleadingly labeled and marketed its products" by calling them "natural." He and the class members were seeking at least $5 million in damages plus interest on all liquidated sums.
"Based on Honest's representations that the Products were natural, [Rubin] and the Class paid a premium for the Products over comparable products that did not purport to be natural," the lawsuit, which was obtained by E! News, stated. "Instead of receiving products that were natural, [Rubin] and the Class received the Products, which, contrary to Honest's representations, contained synthetic ingredients."
At the time, Alba called the allegations "baseless and without merit."
"We strongly stand behind our products and the responsibility we have to our consumers," she said. "We are steadfast in our commitment to transparency and openness."
In March of this year, yet another report surfaced that claimed the company's detergent contains the compound sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), an ingredient they've previously expressed consumers should avoid.
"Our findings support that there is a significant amount of sodium lauryl sulfate in Honest's detergent," Barbara Pavan, a chemist at Impact Analytical, told WSJ at the time.
The Honest Co. denied the claims and set the record straight in a statement obtained by E! News.
"At The Honest Company, our mission is to develop safe and effective products for our families to use and for families everywhere to feel great about. Despite providing The Wall Street Journal with substantial evidence to the contrary, they falsely claimed our laundry detergent contains Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (SLS)," the statement began.
"To set the record straight, we use Sodium Coco Sulfate (SCS) in our brand's laundry detergent because it is a gentler alternative that is less irritating and safer to use. Rigorous testing and analysis both by our internal research and development teams as well as further testing by external partners have confirmed this fact. The Wall Street Journal has been reckless in the preparation of this article, refused multiple requests to share data on which they apparently relied and has substituted junk science for credible journalism."
Alba's company concludes, "We stand behind our laundry detergent and take very seriously the responsibility we have to our consumers to create safe and effective products."
Nonetheless, Alba has remained committed to the company and what it stands for and has taken every twist and turn with it as a lesson learned.
"A, I'm a hustler. B, I've been working since I was, like, 12," she told Allure magazine in August. "I've lived all over the world; I've worked all over the world with adults and seen all these different dynamics. I've been part of a lot of businesses' marketing strategies, and I see how they utilize someone like me. I love learning. I'm a sponge. I haven't lost my thirst and desire to learn. Every day is different, and I'm working toward something that I feel really good about. So it's supergratifying."