Victoria's Secret

L Brands calls off sale of Victoria’s Secret

L Brands stock plummeted on Monday after the company came to an agreement with Sycamore Partners to end its Victoria’s Secret deal. Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel discusses. JULIE HYMAN: We are gonna turn to another story now, and that is WeWork. WeWork coming out, and the founder of the company, Adam Neumann, is now suing SoftBank over the payout that was supposed to come to him. So I'm going to turn back to Melody on this story. Melody, this seems like it's kind of a never-ending one. MELODY: Yeah, the latest saga, Julie, of this WeWork, Vision fund battle-- and in this case, Adam Neumann did file a lawsuit against SoftBank on Monday in the state of Delaware. And essentially-- let's back up a little bit-- last month, SoftBank backed out of a $3 billion tender offer for WeWork shares, saying that necessary conditions were not met by that April 1 deadline. And they specifically pointed to outstanding regulatory investigations, the fact that there were increased lawsuits against Neumann and WeWork, and the failure to restructure a joint deal in China. And Neumann himself was set to receive nearly $1 billion for his shares for his equity in The We Company. You know, SoftBank came out with numbers a couple of weeks ago saying that they're expecting an $8.4 billion loss for the fiscal year that just ended. Let's remember that SoftBank's $100 billion vision fund is not making any money, never mind profitability. At this point in time, they are just bleeding money. And this is not just The We Company, I want to point out. It's a lot of their other investments, the likes of Wag, which is a dog-walking service, Plenty, which is an agrifarm business. Most of these companies over the last few months, their losses have only accelerated as they continue to lay off folks. Because keep in mind, a lot of these businesses are moonshot inventures, so they're very capital intensive. They're not a B2B SaaS play, oftentimes. These are very consumer-facing ventures. And so this is kind of the latest in this ongoing saga, and we don't know where it will quite end. But we do know it is an acrimonious split up between Neumann and Masayoshi Son, who were once kind of seen as best friends. And they were inseparable to a certain extent. I heard an anecdote, actually, from a former comms official at WeWork, who said that they actually only met for 15 minutes. Adam Neumann made a trip to Tokyo to meet with Masa Son several years ago. And after that 15-minute car ride, Masa decided to get it on WeWork. So just thinking about the impulsivity of both of these men, it's no surprise that it's turning out to be a very litigious series of events. - And guys, speaking of the fact that it's become litigious, I think that, you know, one caveat we should give-- people look at this story and they roll their eyes, because we know where Adam Neumann's reputation is these days. And they say, yeah, you know, this man wants his $1 billion. And you're inclined to think, well, this is ridiculous. You know, the company had all its problems and good luck clawing back that money. But I think it's important that we understand, there is a legal agreement here. And it's not necessarily so automatically clear that Neumann is wrong. I mean, both sides have a legal case to be made. You know, SoftBank and Masa Son are saying, here are all the metrics that the company missed, and here are the different cases and investigations against the company, and that's why we backed out. But WeWork, for its part, has said that the agreement back from October included board seats that WeWork had already gone and went ahead and given to SoftBank, and that those board seats were filled. In other words, WeWork's saying, we've already upheld parts of our side of the agreement. So that is just to say that this is gonna play out maybe in court or maybe it'll be settled with attorneys. But it isn't necessarily the case that, just because Adam Neumann clearly bungled a lot of things business-wise, and just because WeWork clearly has a ton of fundamental problems as a business, means that WeWork will not win this case against SoftBank.

United States of America · 3 May 2020

Victoria’s Secret to go private in a deal that values the once-powerful lingerie brand at $1.1 billion

Victoria’s Secret, which once dominated the lingerie category with its sexy image, will go private in a deal that shows how far the brand has fallen out of favor. Private equity firm Sycamore Partners will acquire a 55% share in Victoria’s Secret from its owner, L Brands, for $525 million, the companies announced Thursday. Upon the close of the deal, L Brands’ founder, 82-year-old Les Wexner, will step down as its chairman and CEO. Wexner, the longest-serving CEO of an S&P 500 company, will remain on the board as chairman emeritus. L Brands shares were recently up less than 1% in morning trading. The stock had tumbled as much as 10% in premarket trading after the deal was announced, likely a sign the market was disappointed in the agreement, which puts a value on the lingerie brand of $1.1 billion. L Brands, which has a market value of $6.7 billion, has seen its stock fall more than 11% in the past year. The stock’s losses had narrowed in recent weeks as word of the deal talks leaked. L Brands will now focus on running its Bath & Body Works stores as a separate company. Victoria’s Secret has been under pressure for several years as shoppers opted for other brands, such as Aerie, Adore Me and Third Love, that used more inclusive messaging. Victoria’s Secret sales have tumbled for three straight years. Despite the sales weakness, the brand still leads the fragmented lingerie category and has about $7 billion in annual sales. L Brands will use the funds from the deal, along with $500 million in excess balance sheet cash, to reduce its debt. L Brands had also explored a transaction through which Sycamore would have invested in L Brands through “private investment in public equity” to reduce L Brands’ debt load, people familiar with the talks told CNBC. The company ultimately decided against such a deal, which would have hit shareholders. Some are concerned that the deal doesn’t go far enough to lighten L Brands’ debt load. “The price is lower than our competitors’ rosy view that a full sale near $3.5B was likely,” said Jefferies analyst Randal Konik, who has long been bearish on the stock. “A partial sale and this low price won’t help the massive debt load and shows just how desperate LB has become to try to unload VS. We think true value of VS is much lower, BBW is about to roll over, and LB shares have near 50% downside from recent elevated levels.” Konik expects a dividend cut could still be likely as the company shores up its financial position. Wexner steps down Wexner’s departure is notable because he has long been closely associated with L Brands, which he founded in 1963. Wexner, its largest shareholder with a 16% stake, has stayed chairman and CEO even as it has underperformed and, more recently, as his ties to the late sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein came to light. His steadfastness at the helm of L Brands occurred even as other powerful figures with connections to Epstein such as Britain’s Prince Andrew and entrepreneur Joi Ito stepped away from public roles in the wake of similar disclosures. Upon the deal’s closing, the company will promote Andrew Meslow from chief operating officer to CEO. He will also join its board. Meslow joined L Brands in 2003 and has spent the last 15 years at Bath & Body Works. “I think about the endless possibilities ahead for this company. And I’ve thought about where I fit in the picture,” Wexner wrote in an internal memo obtained by CNBC. “In keeping with this same thoughtful examination, I have decided that now is the right time to pass the reins to new leadership.” In the memo, Wexner highlighted the “resources, expertise and focus” that Sycamore has to revive the Victoria’s Secret brand. The private equity firm has a long track record of investing in retail, including acquisitions of Talbots and Torrid. Wexner also said that as part of the deal, it will split its Mast Global sourcing business, part of which will be focused exclusively on serving Victoria’s Secret. Sycamore had acquired 51% of Mast Global in 2011, which helped provide the platform for its expansive retail investments. ‘Sharpen’ focus on Bath & Body Works The new L Brands will “sharpen its focus” on Bath & Body Works, which sells personal care products. That business has driven sales growth at the company but has recently had slower gains as malls see lighter foot traffic. It is also extending an agreement with activist fund Barington Capital Group, which disclosed a stake in L Brands last year. The firm last year had criticized the L Brands board for its close social ties and pushed the company to split Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. L Brands last year agreed to add two new directors to its board and reached a truce with Barington that was set to expire this month. L Brands said Thursday it will continue to refresh its board. Board members Allan Tessler, Gordon Gee and Raymond Zimmerman will retire at the date of the annual meeting. L Brands has also engaged Heidrick & Struggles to help find new board members. Wexner disclosed last year that Epstein had misappropriated more than $46 million from Wexner and his family years ago. He only recently provided documents to federal prosecutors about the missing money. He has said he first met Epstein in the mid-1980s through friends who vouched for the financier. Epstein was a trustee of the Wexner Foundation, although Wexner has said Epstein had no executive responsibilities. Epstein died in August in an apparent suicide in a New York City jail cell. More recently, Victoria’s Secret has faced accusations of professional impropriety. Its former chief marketing officer, Ed Razek, was accused of inappropriate conduct, according to allegations in a recent report by The New York Times. Razek, who stepped down last year, is said to have been close to Wexner. An L Brands spokesperson told The New York Times the company ”‘is intensely focused’ on corporate governance, workplace and compliance practices and that it had ‘made significant strides.’” Razek denied the allegations.

United States of America · 18 Feb 2020

Victoria’s Secret bares all in Warsaw

POLAND Franchisee Alshaya Poland has opened the first Victoria’s Secret lingerie store with the full range of the company’s products. The 1,200 sqm store is in the Arkadia shopping centre in Warsaw. The lingerie includes all the collections including: Body by Victoria, Very Sexy, Dream Angels, Bombshell, Victoria’s Sport, and Victoria's Secret Pink. The store also sells perfumes and body care products. The Victoria’s Secret brand is owned by the L.Brands company. The chain has over 1,600 stores worldwide. The Alshaya Group is headquarters in Kuwait. The company has been present in Poland since 2007 and it manages such brands as: Victoria's Secret, The Body Shop, Mac and Bath & Body Works. Currently Alshaya has over 30 stores in Poland.

Poland · 6 Sep 2017

Victoria’s Secret expanding to China

L Brands Inc. will put more pins in its map of the world this year, including taking Victoria’s Secret to China. Martin Waters, the company’s international president, told stock analysts recently the company opened 160 international stores in 2013, bringing its total to 863 stores outside the U.S. It hopes to add more than 140 this year. The Victoria’s Secret Beauty & Accessories chain will continue its meteoric expansion. Not even five years old, the roughly 1,000-square-foot shops with an edited selection of fragrances and personal care products, small leather goods, cosmetics cases and sunglasses have grown to 198 locations around the world, about one-third in airports. Some 100 are expected to open this year, including the first stores in China, for which the company has high hopes. L Brands CEO Les Wexner once said he wanted Victoria’s Secret Beauty & Accessories stores to be as "ubiquitous as Starbucks." Full-line Victoria’s Secret stores will grow in number and size in the United Kingdom in 2014. The brand has opened five stores there since 2012, including its Bond Street flagship, and will add six this year. In addition, the Bond Street store will expand after the acquisition of adjoining space that will allow the company to add products from its beauty, swim and sport segments. Results have been good. “What sells here, sells there. What sells there, sells here,” Waters said. “That’s very good news in terms of simplicity of expanding the organization and the operation there.” The company’s first four Victoria’s Secrets in the Middle East opened last year through its franchise agreement with M.L. Alshaya Co., with up to 10 more expected to debut this year. Bath & Body Works franchisees are expected to open 20 to 30 stores this year in the Middle East, southeast Asia and Latin America. The company will begin classifying its Canadian stores for Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works as part of its U.S. base, rather than international operations. Victoria’s Secret is expected to open seven stores in Canada this year with Bath & Body Works adding 10. TRENDING RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE See the Columbus-area housing markets with the biggest 2019 gains CAREER & WORKPLACE Our 2019 Fast 50 share their best hiring tips Business First's Fast 50 honors the region's fastest-growing private companies. HIRING IN SALES Sales Account Manager II Univar Solutions Waters did pull out one illustrative tidbit about Victoria’s Secret and La Senza, the company’s struggling Canadian lingerie chain: Sales at the 34 Victoria’s Secret stores north of the border are “about the same” as the 157 La Senza shops there, he said. Columbus-based L Brands (NYSE:LB), which generated $10.77 billion in revenue last year, has 2,648 stores in U.S. in addition to its growing international presence.

United States of America · 3 Mar 2014