The Blubber

Per CNN

Walmart once bought the Bonobos menswear brand in 2017 for $310 million; now, it sold the clothing line for $75 million. This resulted in a $235 million loss for the company.

The buyers of the menswear brand are WHP Global and retailer Express Inc. The brand was previously purchased as part of Walmart's previous efforts to diversify its online presence.

This was a move made under its previous management.

The buyer of Bonobos, WHP Global, owns brands like Toys "R" Us and Joe Jeans. It also bought a 60% stake in Express Inc., which is responsible for two-thirds of the price. WHP is responsible for shelling out $50 million for the Bonobos purchase, while Express Inc. will pay for the remaining $25 million.

Express Inc. CEO Tim Baxter gave a statement revealing their decisions behind the purchase of the brand. The estimation for when the deal is expected to close is sometime later this year.

Baxter: “Bonobos is delivering double-digit sales growth and we plan to continue that momentum while also realizing operating synergies and other economies of scale,”

GlobalData managing director Neil Saunders gave a statement regarding the discounted price for Bonobos. His statement shared his takes on why Walmart sold the brand at a discounted price.

Saunders: The discounted price “reflects the current weaker outlook across retail, but some is also the result of Walmart not having done much to develop the brand over the past six years.”

Walmart also recently revealed that it didn't make a profit from its Chicago stores since its first one, which was opened 17 years ago. The stores cost the company tens of millions of dollars annually.

Towards the end of 2022, Walmart said that due to the increase in theft in its establishments, the company could raise prices and close stores. It was reported that shoplifting led to over $400 million in losses in the 2022 fiscal year alone.

See flow at unusualwhales.com/flow.

Other News:

• Walmart, $WMT, has said: “Our Chicago stores have not been profitable since we opened the first one nearly 17 years ago"
• Rising thefts at Walmart, $WMT, could lead to price jumps, store closures

Resources:

CNN