Saturday, October 9, 2010

Betsey Johnson/Steve Madden

Betsey Johnson



Women's Wear Daily reporting that Steve Madden has increased his stake in Betsey Johnson from a $48.8 million loan to ownership of the brand’s intellectual property. Through licensing deals with Betsey Johnson LLC, Madden will get royalties from Johnson’s firm and its other licensees.

It's not clear to me if Betsey has been struggling in the current  retail environment or was just looking to partner up with a deep pocketed backer. Have to suspect the former if the relationship went from loan to equity stake. Hopefully, it will be a positive for both parties, but hoping the new relationship doesn't suck the creativity out of her designs. I know Steve Madden knows retail but selling apparel a bit different game, n'est-pas?

Steve Madden

3 comments:

Style, She Wrote said...

I am curious to see how this buy out plays out...

Keith said...

I'm interested to see what happens here.

Unknown said...

Betsey would have gone out of business. She's been struggling for a while. Great buy by Steve. Know him personally and I'm sure he'll do a great job helping out the company!

xo, colby
electric fringe