Managing
March 22, 2019 at 1:16 pm
Rent the Runway, the online service that provides designer dress and accessory rentals, announced on Thursday a $125 million investment co-led by Franklin Templeton Investments and Bain Capital Ventures that values the company at $1 billion. The financing is the largest funding round Rent the Runway has raised to date, and will bring total equity raised to…
March 11, 2019 at 2:32 pm
Teen apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch said last week that it plans to close up to 40 stores by next February, with the majority of closures slated in the U.S. Abercrombie, which also owns Hollister, has been closing stores regularly over the years. For example, over the last eight years, it has shuttered about 475…
March 7, 2019 at 2:55 pm
Amazon.com is shutting down all 87 of its U.S. pop-up stores in April, ending the retailer’s years-long experiment with these small shops as it tinkers with an evolving brick-and-mortar strategy, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Amazon has pop-ups inside Whole Foods locations, Kohl's stores and malls around the U.S. The shops let customers try…
March 4, 2019 at 10:51 am
Amazon.com is planning to open a new grocery store chain in an effort to broaden its reach in the retail category, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Sources familiar with the project told WSJ that the online behemoth is planning to open dozens of grocery stores in several major U.S. cities, and the first…
March 1, 2019 at 10:50 am
Gap Inc. yesterday announced plans to create two independent, publicly traded companies: Old Navy and a yet-to-be-named company ("NewCo") that will consist of the Gap brand, Athleta, Banana Republic, Intermix and Hill City. Gap said the spin-off will enable each company to maximize focus and flexibility, align investments and incentives to meet its unique business needs,…
February 21, 2019 at 2:26 pm
Tennis superstar and businesswoman Serena Williams is joining the board of directors of Silicon Valley-based social commerce platform Poshmark, the company announced Wednesday. “Poshmark is disrupting retail by making shopping and selling social again, and I love working with a company that gives anyone an opportunity to become an entrepreneur,” Williams said in a press release…
February 18, 2019 at 2:26 pm
Amazon.com, the e-commerce giant helmed by Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest man, paid no federal taxes on profit of $11.2 billion last year, according to an analysis of the company’s corporate filings by the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), a progressive think tank. The news of the report was first publicly reported in The Washington Post,…
February 15, 2019 at 2:06 pm
Outdoor retailer Recreational Equipment, Inc., or REI, says its president and CEO Jerry Stritzke has resigned for failing to disclose a personal relationship with the head of another organization in the outdoor industry, according to a company statement. REI's board accepted Stritzke’s resignation “following an investigation into the facts and circumstances surrounding a personal and…
February 11, 2019 at 2:14 pm
Toys”R”Us has officially emerged as Tru Kids Inc., a new company, with new leadership and a new vision, according to a press release published today. Effective Jan. 20, Tru Kids Inc. doing business as Tru Kids Brands, became the parent company of Toys”R”Us, Babies”R”Us, Geoffrey and more than 20 consumer toy and baby brands. Tru Kids is…
February 8, 2019 at 2:47 pm
Sears Holdings got a new lifeline yesterday as its sale to company chairman Eddie Lampert, through an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL Investments, was approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge, according to CNBC. ESL has said the $5.2 billion deal to buy Sears will save 425 stores and roughly 45,000 jobs. While an initial…
