Shares of lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret were up as much as 18% in premarket trading Wednesday morning after the struggling brand announced it would hire Hillary Super, former CEO of Rihanna’s popular Savage x Fenty brand, as its new chief executive.
Key Facts
- Shares of Victoria’s Secret were trading at $22.50 in pre-market on the news, which will see Super in the position effective Sept. 9 to replace Martin Waters after less than two years at the helm.
- Super’s experience includes time with Anthropologie Group and American Eagle Outfitters before she served as CEO of Savage X Fenty, the brand launched by Rihanna in 2018.
- Victoria’s Secret closed at $19.07 per share Tuesday, down almost 60% from its year-to-date closing high of $30.50 in February.
- The company reported revenues down 3.4% year-over-year in its quarterly financials released in May.
- Donna James, chair of the Victoria’s Secret Board, said in a statement that Super will aim to accelerate growth in North America.
Key Background
Victoria’s Secret has been struggling for almost a decade after a slew of public perception missteps that included the unveiling of billionaire founder Leslie Wexner’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, criticisms that it promoted traditional beauty standards and the canceling of the famous Victoria’s Secret fashion show after years of declining ratings. Victoria’s Secret’s market share dropped to 24% in 2018—the year Rihanna launched Savage X Fenty—down from 31.7% in 2013, CNN reported. The brand has struggled to keep up with competitors like Aerie and Fenty in the public eye, which have been praised for their use of unretouched and size-inclusive models and advertising campaigns when compared to the traditional look of the Victoria’s Secret “angel.” They re-launched its once-iconic fashion show last year in a new format that included the return of many legacy models like Adriana Lima and Candice Swanepoel, but also pulled in more diverse names like transgender DJ Honey Dijon and plus-size French singer Yseult.
Forbes Valuation
Wexner founded L Brands, the parent company to famous names like Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, in 1963. He is ranked as the 508th richest person in the world as of Wednesday with a $6 billion estimated net worth. He bought Victoria’s Secret, which now has a market cap of $1.49 billion, for $1 million in 1982. Wexner, who was 82 at the time, said he would step down from the company he founded in 2020 with plans to sell a majority stake in Victoria’s Secret to private equity firm Sycamore Partners, but that deal fell through amid the Covid pandemic. Wexner’s resignation came as his connections to friend and financial manager Jeffrey Epstein were revealed. A three-part documentary series on Hulu called “Victoria’s Secret: Angels and Demons” debuted in 2022 exploring Wexner’s ties to Epstein and accusing the former of turning a bind eye to sexual harassment or assault at the company, particularly under former chief marketing officer, Ed Razek.
This story was originally published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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