Martha Stewart brand sold
The Martha Stewart brand of home furnishings and other branded products and media has a new owner.
Marquee Brands announced it has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse brands and all related intellectual property from Sequential Brands Group. The deal was put at $175 million by the New York Post, with an earn-out opportunity for an additional $40 million.
Sequential Brands purchased Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2015 for $353 million.
Through the acquisition, Marquee Brands said it will establish a leading home and food division with two preeminent brands, increasing the reach of its portfolio to over $2.3 billion in annual retail equivalent sales.
Martha Stewart will join the Marquee Brands team and continue to guide the brand she founded.
"I am thrilled to enter into this partnership with Marquee Brands, an organization that shares the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity on which I founded my business,” she said. “In this ever-evolving retail and media environment, I am confident that Marquee's business values, sophisticated digital expertise and international relationships will drive continued growth and position the Martha Stewart brand well for the future.”
Sequential, which also owns brands such as Jessica Simpson, Ellen Tracy and Gaiam, has been looking to sell Stewart’s brands because the cost required to keep the domestic diva had been skyrocketing, including 2017 pay that dwarfed other Sequential officials’ pay by several million, the Post reported.
Marquee Brands announced it has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse brands and all related intellectual property from Sequential Brands Group. The deal was put at $175 million by the New York Post, with an earn-out opportunity for an additional $40 million.
Sequential Brands purchased Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2015 for $353 million.
Through the acquisition, Marquee Brands said it will establish a leading home and food division with two preeminent brands, increasing the reach of its portfolio to over $2.3 billion in annual retail equivalent sales.
Martha Stewart will join the Marquee Brands team and continue to guide the brand she founded.
"I am thrilled to enter into this partnership with Marquee Brands, an organization that shares the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity on which I founded my business,” she said. “In this ever-evolving retail and media environment, I am confident that Marquee's business values, sophisticated digital expertise and international relationships will drive continued growth and position the Martha Stewart brand well for the future.”
Sequential, which also owns brands such as Jessica Simpson, Ellen Tracy and Gaiam, has been looking to sell Stewart’s brands because the cost required to keep the domestic diva had been skyrocketing, including 2017 pay that dwarfed other Sequential officials’ pay by several million, the Post reported.