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Bath & Body Works, Inc.

May 05, 2023

This article is about the retail company. For the retailer, see Bath & Body Works.

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $11.9 billion in revenue in 2021, and was listed as 248 on the 2020 Fortune 500 list of largest United States companies by revenue.[1]

Bath & Body Works, Inc.
TypePublic
NYSE: BBWI
S&P 500 component
IndustryRetailing
Founded1963; 60 years ago (1963)
FounderLes Wexner
HeadquartersColumbus, Ohio, U.S.
Key people
Gina Boswell (CEO)
ProductsClothing, fashion accessory
Revenue US$11.84 billion (2021)[1]
US$1.58 billion (2021)[1]
US$844 million (2021)[1]
Total assets US$11.57 billion (2021)[1]
Total equity –US$662 million (2021)[2]
Number of employees
57,200 (2023)[3]
SubsidiariesBath & Body Works
Websitewww.bbwinc.com

In February 2020, L Brands announced the planned sale of its Victoria's Secret division to Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm. Under the agreement, Sycamore Partners would gain a 55% controlling stake in Victoria's Secret while L Brands would keep a 45% stake, leaving Bath & Body Works to become L Brand's sole business.[4] The sale fell through in May 2020, although Wexner did step down as CEO as planned, replaced by Andrew Meslow.[5]Gina Boswell was appointed the new CEO effective December 1, 2022, replacing Andrew Meslow who stepped down in May 2022. She replaced the interim CEO, Sarah Nash. [6]

In March 2021, L Brands announced it would spin off Victoria's Secret as a stand-alone publicly traded company, and then change its name to Bath & Body Works, Inc. As of August 3, 2021, the separation was complete, and Bath and Body Works stock started trading under the ticker symbol "BBWI".[7]

History

Origins

Bella Cabakoff was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and moved to Columbus as a toddler.[8] At age 21, she became the youngest buyer for the Lazarus department store chain. After spending over 20 years working for Lazarus, in 1951, she and her husband Harry Wexner opened a women's clothing store named Leslie's on State Street. The store was named after their son, Leslie "Les" Wexner, and he began working there when he was attending college at Ohio State University.[9]

In 1963, Wexner borrowed $5,000 from his aunt and $5,000 from the bank and opened a store at the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, Ohio. This store was named "The Limited" because the store focused on clothing for younger women, unlike his parents' general merchandise store. Later, in 1964, Bella and Harry closed their store to join their son in his venture.[10]

1970s–present

The original board consisted of only the three family members and longtime friend Jim Waldron, who served as Senior Vice President. Bella Wexner served as secretary until her death in 2001, Harry as chairman (he served until his death in 1975), and Leslie, CEO from inception, later succeeded his father as the chairman. As of 2014, he and his family continued to own 17% of LB. In 1969, Wexner took The Limited Brands public and sold 47,600 shares at $7.25 a share. In 1977, The Limited moved into its main headquarters on Morse Road in Columbus, from which L Brands still operates today. In 1982, The Limited was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange.[11]

L Brands shareholders filed a complaint in the Court of Chancery of Delaware on January 14, 2021, stating that former chair Les Wexner, among others, created an "entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment" and was aware of abuses being committed by accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which breached his fiduciary duty to the company, causing devaluation of the brand. The complaint also names Wexner's wife, Abigail, current chair Sarah E. Nash, and former marketing officer Ed Razek, whose "widely known misconduct" was long allowed at the company.[12]

In February 2021, L Brands announced the retirement of CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer in August of that year, to be replaced by CEO of Victoria's Secret Martin Waters. Mr. Burgdoerfer stated he was "grateful to have had the opportunity to work with extraordinary people in every part of the business."[13]

Acquisitions

The 1980s started a string of acquisitions. In 1982, the Victoria's Secret brand, store, and catalogue were purchased from Roy Raymond for $1 million.[14] Also in 1982, 207 Lane Bryant stores were purchased. In 1985, the exclusive Henri Bendel store on Fifth Avenue in New York City was purchased for $10 million and 798 Lerner stores for $297 million. Finally, in 1988, 25 Abercrombie & Fitch stores were purchased for $46 million. In 1996, The Limited ended its ownership of the A&F brand; it was spun off into a publicly traded company.[15]

The 1990s saw initial development of the Limited Too, Bath & Body Works, Structure, and Victoria's Secret Beauty. In 1998, several Bath & Body Works stores were converted to The White Barn Candle Company stores to begin a home fragrance brand.[16]

In 2005, Limited Brands purchased home fragrance manufacturer Slatkin & Company.[17]

Divestitures

On August 3, 2007, Limited Brands sold 75% ownership of its flagship The Limited chain to buyout firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. In 2010, the remaining 25% of shares were also purchased by Sun Capital. Stefan M. Selig from Bank of America was involved in these deals.[18] Following the sale of their namesake store, Limited Brands changed their company name to L Brands, as per the terms of the sale.[19] On January 7, 2017, The Limited closed all of its stores in the United States. The web retail operation, thelimited.com, was initially continued for business and shipping nationwide.[20] Despite this, The Limited online soon filed for bankruptcy and discontinued all services.[21] However, the brand was revived in mid-2017 by Sycamore Partners subsidiary Belk and Limited-branded merchandise became available on its website.[22]

 
The former L Brands logo

On February 20, 2020, L Brands announced that it would sell its Victoria's Secret division to Sycamore Partners, private equity firm. Under the agreement, Sycamore Partners would gain a 55% controlling stake in Victoria's Secret for about $525 million. L Brands would keep a 45% stake. leaving Bath & Body Works to potentially become L Brand's sole business. L Brands also announced that CEO Leslie Wexner was stepping down.[4] On May 4, 2020, L Brands and Sycamore Partners announced a "mutual termination" of their deal, and settlement of related litigation.[5]

At the May 14, 2020 virtual shareholders meeting, L Brands founder, CEO and board chair Les Wexner stepped down, Bath & Body Works CEO Andrew Meslow moved up to become CEO of L Brands and joined the board, and three directors stepped down. The company announced it would go forward with a spin-off of Victoria's Secret as a stand-alone company. It also announced it would close 250 Victoria's Secret Stores and 50 Bath and Body Works stores.

On September 14, 2020, L Brands announced that it would sell its majority stake in its Victoria's Secret UK business to Next Plc under a newly formed joint venture. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.[23][24]

In 2021, L Brands announced Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works had been recast into two separate Publicly Traded Companies, expected to be completed by August.[25] The Current L Brands CEO Andrew Meslow will be the head of Bath & Body Works while Martin Waters will be the head of Victoria's Secret after the split[26]

On August 3, 2022, The Columbus-based retailer has officially spilt into two companies — Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works. The split went into effect Monday, and the companies began trading individually on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday morning. L Brands decided in May to move ahead with a split after initially deciding to sell a 55% stake in Victoria's Secret for $500 million in February 2020. That deal was called off because of the pandemic.[27] The name L Brands is no longer used as the name changed to Bath & Body Works Inc.

Brands

L Brands once operated the following retail brands:

Former brands

Previous brands that were spun off include:

Brands that ceased operations:

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "Annual Report 2021". Bath & Body Works, Inc.
  2. ^ "Symbol Lookup from Yahoo Finance".
  3. ^ "L Brands". Fortune. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  4. ^ a b Paramasivam, Praveen; Venugopal, Aishwarya; Herbst-Bayliss, Svea (20 February 2020). "L Brands sells majority stake in Victoria's Secret, CEO Wexner to step down". Reuters. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  5. ^ a b Singh, Prachi (2020-05-05). "L Brands and Sycamore mutually call off Victoria's Secret deal". Fashion United. Retrieved 2020-06-07.
  6. ^ "Bath & Body Works names industry veteran Gina Boswell as new CEO". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  7. ^ Inc, L. Brands (2021-08-03). "Bath & Body Works, Inc. Completes Separation of Victoria's Secret". GlobeNewswire News Room. Retrieved 2023-04-19. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ Saxon, Wolfgang (10 November 2001). "Bella C. Wexner, 93 Matriarch of Aa Retail Chain". New York. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  9. ^ "Leslie H. Wexner". Academy of Achievement. Retrieved 2023-04-23.
  10. ^ Parker, Garrett (2019-02-21). "10 Things You Didn't Know About L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner". Money Inc. Retrieved 2021-02-05.
  11. ^ "L Brands - Heritage". www.lb.com. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  12. ^ "New Complaints About 'Culture of Misogyny' at Victoria’s Secret", by Kellie Ell, Women's Wear Daily, January 15, 2021. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  13. ^ Sebastian, Dave (2021-02-04). "L Brands CFO to Retire After About 14 Years on the Job". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-02-06.
  14. ^ "L Brands - Heritage". www.lb.com. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  15. ^ "COMPANY NEWS; LIMITED TO SPIN OFF ITS STAKE IN ABERCROMBIE & FITCH". The New York Times. 16 April 1998. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  16. ^ Willett, Julie A. (2010). The American Beauty Industry Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313359491.
  17. ^ Dash, Eric (13 May 2005). "Limited Is Said To Be Buying Home Fragrance Maker". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  18. ^ Dana, Mattioli (7 November 2013). "Bank of America's Selig Nominated for Commerce Department Post". WSJ. Retrieved 14 May 2014.
  19. ^ "Limited Brands changes its name to L Brands". Reuters. New York. 22 March 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  20. ^ "The Limited shutters all of its stores nationwide". Fox 61. Fox 61. 8 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  21. ^ Limited. "Coming Soon - The Limited ™". www.thelimited.com. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  22. ^ "THE LIMITED® - Official Site | belk". www.belk.com.
  23. ^ Reuters Staff (2020-09-14). "Next Plc buys majority stake in Victoria's Secret UK arm". Reuters. Retrieved 2020-09-22. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  24. ^ Rozario, Kevin. "L Brands' Deal With Fashion Retailer Next Gives Victoria's Secret A Lifeline In U.K." Forbes. Retrieved 2020-09-22.
  25. ^ Thomas, Lauren (2021-05-11). "L Brands to spin off Victoria's Secret by August, hoping to nab higher valuation". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  26. ^ "L Brands reveals name for spun-off Victoria's Secret". Chain Store Age. Retrieved 2021-06-25.
  27. ^ Williams, Mark. "L Brands no more: Bath & Body Works, Victoria's Secret are now separate companies". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  28. ^ Limited Brands spins off last of its apparel stores, 2007 Associated Press/The Philadelphia Inquirer.

External links

  • Official website
  • Business data for Bath & Body Works, Inc.:
    • Bloomberg
    • Google
    • Reuters
    • SEC filings
    • Yahoo!

May 05, 2023
bath, body, works, this, article, about, retail, company, retailer, bath, body, works, formerly, known, brands, limited, brands, limited, american, specialty, retail, company, based, columbus, ohio, owns, bath, body, works, posted, billion, revenue, 2021, list. This article is about the retail company For the retailer see Bath amp Body Works Bath amp Body Works Inc formerly known as L Brands Inc Limited Brands Inc and The Limited Inc is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus Ohio It owns Bath amp Body Works posted 11 9 billion in revenue in 2021 and was listed as 248 on the 2020 Fortune 500 list of largest United States companies by revenue 1 Bath amp Body Works Inc TypePublicTraded asNYSE BBWIS amp P 500 componentIndustryRetailingFounded1963 60 years ago 1963 FounderLes WexnerHeadquartersColumbus Ohio U S Key peopleGina Boswell CEO ProductsClothing fashion accessoryRevenueUS 11 84 billion 2021 1 Operating incomeUS 1 58 billion 2021 1 Net incomeUS 844 million 2021 1 Total assetsUS 11 57 billion 2021 1 Total equity US 662 million 2021 2 Number of employees57 200 2023 3 SubsidiariesBath amp Body WorksWebsitewww wbr bbwinc wbr comIn February 2020 L Brands announced the planned sale of its Victoria s Secret division to Sycamore Partners a private equity firm Under the agreement Sycamore Partners would gain a 55 controlling stake in Victoria s Secret while L Brands would keep a 45 stake leaving Bath amp Body Works to become L Brand s sole business 4 The sale fell through in May 2020 although Wexner did step down as CEO as planned replaced by Andrew Meslow 5 Gina Boswell was appointed the new CEO effective December 1 2022 replacing Andrew Meslow who stepped down in May 2022 She replaced the interim CEO Sarah Nash 6 In March 2021 L Brands announced it would spin off Victoria s Secret as a stand alone publicly traded company and then change its name to Bath amp Body Works Inc As of August 3 2021 the separation was complete and Bath and Body Works stock started trading under the ticker symbol BBWI 7 Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 1970s present 1 3 Acquisitions 1 4 Divestitures 2 Brands 2 1 Former brands 3 References 4 External linksHistory EditOrigins Edit Bella Cabakoff was born in Williamsburg Brooklyn and moved to Columbus as a toddler 8 At age 21 she became the youngest buyer for the Lazarus department store chain After spending over 20 years working for Lazarus in 1951 she and her husband Harry Wexner opened a women s clothing store named Leslie s on State Street The store was named after their son Leslie Les Wexner and he began working there when he was attending college at Ohio State University 9 In 1963 Wexner borrowed 5 000 from his aunt and 5 000 from the bank and opened a store at the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington Ohio This store was named The Limited because the store focused on clothing for younger women unlike his parents general merchandise store Later in 1964 Bella and Harry closed their store to join their son in his venture 10 1970s present Edit The original board consisted of only the three family members and longtime friend Jim Waldron who served as Senior Vice President Bella Wexner served as secretary until her death in 2001 Harry as chairman he served until his death in 1975 and Leslie CEO from inception later succeeded his father as the chairman As of 2014 update he and his family continued to own 17 of LB In 1969 Wexner took The Limited Brands public and sold 47 600 shares at 7 25 a share In 1977 The Limited moved into its main headquarters on Morse Road in Columbus from which L Brands still operates today In 1982 The Limited was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange 11 L Brands shareholders filed a complaint in the Court of Chancery of Delaware on January 14 2021 stating that former chair Les Wexner among others created an entrenched culture of misogyny bullying and harassment and was aware of abuses being committed by accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein which breached his fiduciary duty to the company causing devaluation of the brand The complaint also names Wexner s wife Abigail current chair Sarah E Nash and former marketing officer Ed Razek whose widely known misconduct was long allowed at the company 12 In February 2021 L Brands announced the retirement of CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer in August of that year to be replaced by CEO of Victoria s Secret Martin Waters Mr Burgdoerfer stated he was grateful to have had the opportunity to work with extraordinary people in every part of the business 13 Acquisitions Edit The 1980s started a string of acquisitions In 1982 the Victoria s Secret brand store and catalogue were purchased from Roy Raymond for 1 million 14 Also in 1982 207 Lane Bryant stores were purchased In 1985 the exclusive Henri Bendel store on Fifth Avenue in New York City was purchased for 10 million and 798 Lerner stores for 297 million Finally in 1988 25 Abercrombie amp Fitch stores were purchased for 46 million In 1996 The Limited ended its ownership of the A amp F brand it was spun off into a publicly traded company 15 The 1990s saw initial development of the Limited Too Bath amp Body Works Structure and Victoria s Secret Beauty In 1998 several Bath amp Body Works stores were converted to The White Barn Candle Company stores to begin a home fragrance brand 16 In 2005 Limited Brands purchased home fragrance manufacturer Slatkin amp Company 17 Divestitures Edit On August 3 2007 Limited Brands sold 75 ownership of its flagship The Limited chain to buyout firm Sun Capital Partners Inc In 2010 the remaining 25 of shares were also purchased by Sun Capital Stefan M Selig from Bank of America was involved in these deals 18 Following the sale of their namesake store Limited Brands changed their company name to L Brands as per the terms of the sale 19 On January 7 2017 The Limited closed all of its stores in the United States The web retail operation thelimited com was initially continued for business and shipping nationwide 20 Despite this The Limited online soon filed for bankruptcy and discontinued all services 21 However the brand was revived in mid 2017 by Sycamore Partners subsidiary Belk and Limited branded merchandise became available on its website 22 The former L Brands logo On February 20 2020 L Brands announced that it would sell its Victoria s Secret division to Sycamore Partners private equity firm Under the agreement Sycamore Partners would gain a 55 controlling stake in Victoria s Secret for about 525 million L Brands would keep a 45 stake leaving Bath amp Body Works to potentially become L Brand s sole business L Brands also announced that CEO Leslie Wexner was stepping down 4 On May 4 2020 L Brands and Sycamore Partners announced a mutual termination of their deal and settlement of related litigation 5 At the May 14 2020 virtual shareholders meeting L Brands founder CEO and board chair Les Wexner stepped down Bath amp Body Works CEO Andrew Meslow moved up to become CEO of L Brands and joined the board and three directors stepped down The company announced it would go forward with a spin off of Victoria s Secret as a stand alone company It also announced it would close 250 Victoria s Secret Stores and 50 Bath and Body Works stores On September 14 2020 L Brands announced that it would sell its majority stake in its Victoria s Secret UK business to Next Plc under a newly formed joint venture The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed 23 24 In 2021 L Brands announced Victoria s Secret and Bath amp Body Works had been recast into two separate Publicly Traded Companies expected to be completed by August 25 The Current L Brands CEO Andrew Meslow will be the head of Bath amp Body Works while Martin Waters will be the head of Victoria s Secret after the split 26 On August 3 2022 The Columbus based retailer has officially spilt into two companies Victoria s Secret and Bath amp Body Works The split went into effect Monday and the companies began trading individually on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday morning L Brands decided in May to move ahead with a split after initially deciding to sell a 55 stake in Victoria s Secret for 500 million in February 2020 That deal was called off because of the pandemic 27 The name L Brands is no longer used as the name changed to Bath amp Body Works Inc Brands EditL Brands once operated the following retail brands Bath amp Body Works L Brands changed its name to Bath amp Body Works Inc Former brands Edit Previous brands that were spun off include Lane Bryant sold in 2001 to Charming Shoppes Abercrombie amp Fitch acquired by The Limited in 1988 and went public as NYSE ANF in 1996 Lerner New York sold and became New York and Company The Limited Too spun off in 1999 and re branded as Justice Galyan s T merged with Victoria s Secret Beauty Express on May 15 2007 Limited Brands sold a 75 stake in Express to Golden Gate Capital Partners 28 The Limited on August 3 2007 Limited Brands transferred 75 ownership of its flagship The Limited chain to buyout firm Sun Capital Partners Inc in 2010 Sun Capital purchased the remaining shares La Senza sold to Regent in January 2019 Victoria s Secret on August 3 2022 The Columbus based retailer officially spilt into its own company Pink on August 3 2022 the company split into its own company under Victoria s SecretBrands that ceased operations Henri Bendel closed in January 2019 References Edit a b c d e Annual Report 2021 Bath amp Body Works Inc Symbol Lookup from Yahoo Finance L Brands Fortune 31 January 2020 Retrieved 14 June 2020 a b Paramasivam Praveen Venugopal Aishwarya Herbst Bayliss Svea 20 February 2020 L Brands sells majority stake in Victoria s Secret CEO Wexner to step down Reuters Retrieved 21 February 2020 a b Singh Prachi 2020 05 05 L Brands and Sycamore mutually call off Victoria s Secret deal Fashion United Retrieved 2020 06 07 Bath amp Body Works names industry veteran Gina Boswell as new CEO The Columbus Dispatch Retrieved 2023 04 19 Inc L Brands 2021 08 03 Bath amp Body Works Inc Completes Separation of Victoria s Secret GlobeNewswire News Room Retrieved 2023 04 19 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a last has generic name help Saxon Wolfgang 10 November 2001 Bella C Wexner 93 Matriarch of Aa Retail Chain New York Retrieved 21 February 2020 Leslie H Wexner Academy of Achievement Retrieved 2023 04 23 Parker Garrett 2019 02 21 10 Things You Didn t Know About L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner Money Inc Retrieved 2021 02 05 L Brands Heritage www lb com Retrieved 25 August 2017 New Complaints About Culture of Misogyny at Victoria s Secret by Kellie Ell Women s Wear Daily January 15 2021 Retrieved January 24 2021 Sebastian Dave 2021 02 04 L Brands CFO to Retire After About 14 Years on the Job Wall Street Journal ISSN 0099 9660 Retrieved 2021 02 06 L Brands Heritage www lb com Retrieved 25 August 2017 COMPANY NEWS LIMITED TO SPIN OFF ITS STAKE IN ABERCROMBIE amp FITCH The New York Times 16 April 1998 Retrieved 14 January 2015 Willett Julie A 2010 The American Beauty Industry Encyclopedia ABC CLIO ISBN 9780313359491 Dash Eric 13 May 2005 Limited Is Said To Be Buying Home Fragrance Maker The New York Times Retrieved 5 December 2012 Dana Mattioli 7 November 2013 Bank of America s Selig Nominated for Commerce Department Post WSJ Retrieved 14 May 2014 Limited Brands changes its name to L Brands Reuters New York 22 March 2013 Retrieved 21 February 2020 The Limited shutters all of its stores nationwide Fox 61 Fox 61 8 January 2017 Retrieved 8 January 2017 Limited Coming Soon The Limited www thelimited com Retrieved 25 August 2017 THE LIMITED Official Site belk www belk com Reuters Staff 2020 09 14 Next Plc buys majority stake in Victoria s Secret UK arm Reuters Retrieved 2020 09 22 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a author has generic name help Rozario Kevin L Brands Deal With Fashion Retailer Next Gives Victoria s Secret A Lifeline In U K Forbes Retrieved 2020 09 22 Thomas Lauren 2021 05 11 L Brands to spin off Victoria s Secret by August hoping to nab higher valuation CNBC Retrieved 2021 06 23 L Brands reveals name for spun off Victoria s Secret Chain Store Age Retrieved 2021 06 25 Williams Mark L Brands no more Bath amp Body Works Victoria s Secret are now separate companies The Columbus Dispatch Retrieved 2023 04 19 Limited Brands spins off last of its apparel stores 2007 Associated Press The Philadelphia Inquirer External links EditOfficial website Business data for Bath amp Body Works Inc BloombergGoogleReutersSEC filingsYahoo Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Bath 26 Body Works Inc amp oldid 1151290647, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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