Mergers & Acquisitions

FullBeauty Brands, an omnichannel retailer of extended sizes and a pioneer in size-inclusive fashions, purchased plus-size fashion brand ELOQUII Inc. from Walmart in April. In this video, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews FullBeauty Brands CEO Jim Fogarty about the acquisition, including how ELOQUII will be integrated into FullBeauty's current portfolio of brands as well as the new…

Walmart is selling online apparel brand ELOQUII to FullBeauty Brands, marking the retailer’s third divestiture of a direct-to-consumer brand this year. The big-box retailer sold Bonobos to WHP Global and Express earlier this month and offloaded Moosejaw to Dick’s Sporting Goods in February. The sales are a reversal of a 2017-18 strategy led by Marc Lore, Walmart’s former head of e-commerce. Walmart bought ELOQUII in…

Global dealmaking suffered a record fall during the second half of 2022, as rising interest rates, surging inflation, and the war in Ukraine brought a period of frenetic activity to an abrupt, if not surprising, close. According to data provider Refinitiv, mergers and acquisitions totaled $3.6 trillion worldwide in 2022, down 37 percent from 2021’s…

L’Oréal announced on Monday that it's buying the Australian luxury beauty brand Aēsop for $2.5 billion. The agreement is between L’Oréal and Aēsop's parent company, Natura &Co. Aēsop currently operates around 400 stores across the Americas, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia, with a nascent footprint in China. Launched in 1987,  Aēsop is known for its skin, hair and…

In this episode of Total Retail Talks, Editor-in-Chief Joe Keenan interviews Ariane Goldman, CEO of Hatch Collective, parent company of leading maternity brands HATCH, Motherhood Maternity, A Pea in the Pod, and Destination Maternity. In the conversation, Goldman discusses her entrepreneurial career journey (1:00), how the new Hatch Collective business is strategically combining four leading…

Franchise Group Inc., which owns The Vitamin Shoppe, Pet Supplies Plus, and five other companies, received an unsolicited $1.05 billion acquisition offer Monday, the company reported. The offer, presented by an unknown buyer, is for $30 per share in cash. Franchise Group Inc. said its board of directors is carefully evaluating the proposal "to determine the…

WeightWatchers announced its plans to purchase Sequence, a subscription telehealth platform specializing in treatment for people with obesity. The acquisition will cost WeightWatchers $132 million and will be completed in the second quarter of the year, the company said in a press release Monday. Sequence, a startup that launched in 2021, gives patients the option to…

Dick's Sporting Goods is buying the outdoor retailer Moosejaw from Walmart for an undisclosed amount of money, Dick's announced Wednesday in a press release. Moosejaw was acquired by Walmart for a reported $51 million in 2017. It's mostly an e-commerce platform, but operates brick-and-mortar locations in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri. Moosejaw will join Dick's…

Designer Brands, the Columbus, Ohio-based parent company of DSW, has acquired canvas shoe brand Keds, furthering its foothold in casual and athleisure footwear. Acquired from Rockford, Michigan-based footwear manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide, the brand was founded in 1916 as the first mass-marketed canvas-top sneaker. The acquisition of Keds includes all Keds' products, including its athletic line, Pro-Keds, and…

In a move aimed at growing its healthcare portfolio, CVS announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Oak Street Health for approximately $10.6 billion. Oak Street Health, a multi-payer primary care company whose patients include those on Medicare with low incomes and chronic health problems, was founded in 2012. More than 50 percent of Oak…