On Friday, it was confirmed that Authentic Brands Group and B. Riley Financial acquired Barneys New York for $271.4 million. The new owners of Barneys are expected to close the majority of its stores, resulting in the termination of thousands of employees. The remaining assets will be liquidated, and the Barneys New York name and IP will be licensed to Saks Fifth Avenue.
Earlier this year, it was announced that Barneys filed for bankruptcy. The company subsequently looked for investors, which eventually lead to Kith investor Sam Ben-Avraham launching a campaign to save Barneys last month. Ultimately, the campaign faltered, and he confirmed he would not submit a final bid. On Thursday, a judge approved the ABG bid, but the sale was made official on Friday.
In a lengthy statement on Instagram, Ben-Avraham and his team confirmed they made the decision to no longer invest in Barneys. "Dear Family, Last night after two months of working around the clock, my team and I had to make the hardest decision we could have imagined: to pull out of the race and not go to court this morning," he wrote. "Unfortunately, we failed to convince enough people in the business community that it made economic sense to keep Barneys alive. Some unexpected road blocks were put in our way. [...] I apologize if I have failed anyone, and gave anyone false hope by not being able to close the deal."
The Wall Street Journal reported that ABG will keep the Madison Avenue flagship store open, at least for the next 12 months.
Check out the full statement below.
As Vogue reports, rumors have started to circulate that a liquidation sale would result in intensely marked-down merchandise.
