L Brands, Inc. (formerly known as Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American fashion retailer based in Columbus, Ohio.
Its flagship brands include Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. L Brands posted $12.63 billion in revenue in 2017, and was listed as 231 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of largest United States companies by revenue.[4]
Early history
Bella Cabakoff was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and moved to Columbus as a toddler.[5] At age 21, she became the youngest buyer for the Lazarus department storechain. 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 (after their son) on State Street. This store became the training ground for Leslie “Les” Wexner. In 1963, he 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.[citation needed]
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 succeeded his father as the chairman and later became CEO. As of 2014 he and his family continue to own 17% of LB. In 1969, Wexner took The Limited Brands public and sold 47,600 share 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.[6]
Acquisitions and divestitures
The 1980s started a string of acquisitions. In 1982, the Victoria’s Secret brand, store, and catalogue were purchased from Roy Raymondfor $1 million.[7] Also in 1982, 207 Lane Bryantstores 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, when it was spun off into a publicly traded company.[8]
The 1990s saw the initial development of the Limited Too, Bath & Body Works, Structure, and Victoria’s Secret Beauty. Later in 1998, several Bath & Body Works stores were converted to The White Barn Candle Company stores to begin a home fragrance brand.[citation needed]
In 2005 Limited Brands purchased home fragrance manufacturer Slatkin & Company.[9]
On August 3, 2007, Limited Brands sold 75% ownership of its flagship Limited chain to buyout firm Sun Capital Partners, Inc. In 2010, the remaining 25% of shares were also purchased by Sun Capital. Stefan M. Seligfrom Bank of America was involved in these deals.[10] The Limited announced on its website that all The Limited stores in the United States had officially closed their doors on January 7, 2017. The web retail operation of The Limited stores, thelimited.com, was announced to continue to be open for business and ship nationwide.[11]Despite this, The Limited online also soon filed for bankruptcy and discontinued all services.[12]However, the brand was revived in mid-2017 by Sycamore Partners subsidiary Belk and Limited-branded merchandise is available on its website.[13]
Brands
L Brands currently operates the following retail brands:
- Victoria’s Secret
- Pink (sold through Victoria’s Secret)
- Bath & Body Works
- Henri Bendel (closing operations January 2019)
- La Senza
Although not part of L Brands, they also have distribution rights (exclusive or non-exclusive) for the following brands:
- C. O. Bigelow
- The White Barn Candle Company
Previous brands that were spun off include:
- Lane Bryant – sold in 2002 to Charming Shoppes
- Abercrombie & 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 – Tween Brands, spun off in 1999 and now branded as Justice
- Galyan’s – Majority interest sold in 1999, remaining shares sold in 2004, merged with Dick’s Sporting Goods
- Structure – converted to Express Men, brand name later sold to Sears
- Aura Science – merged with Victoria’s Secret Beauty
- Express – on May 15, 2007, Limited Brands sold a 75% stake in Express to Golden Gate Capital Partners[14]
- The Limited – on August 3, 2007, Limited Brands transferred 75% ownership of its flagship Limited chain to buyout firm Sun Capital Partners Inc.; in 2010, Sun Capital purchased the remaining shares.
References
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Limited Brands (LTD) annual SEC income statement filing via Wikinvest
- ^ Jump up to:a b Limited Brands (LTD) annual SEC balance sheet filing via Wikinvest
- ^ http://fortune.com/fortune500/l-brands/
- ^ “L Brands”. Fortune. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
- ^ Wexner obituary in the New York Times
- ^ “L Brands – Heritage”. www.lb.com. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ “L Brands – Heritage”. www.lb.com. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
- ^ “COMPANY NEWS; LIMITED TO SPIN OFF ITS STAKE IN ABERCROMBIE & FITCH”. nytimes.com. The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
- ^ Dash, Eric (13 May 2005). “Limited Is Said To Be Buying Home Fragrance Maker”. The New York Times. Retrieved 5 December2012.
- ^ Dana, Mattioli (7 November 2013). “Bank of America’s Selig Nominated for Commerce Department Post”. WSJ. Retrieved 14 May2014.
- ^ “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.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Limited Brands spins off last of its apparel stores, 2007 Associated Press/The Philadelphia Inquirer.