The Nordstrom family is looking to gain a majority stake in the luxury retail mainstay that bears their name but is facing opposition from other members of the board who see them as the problem, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
Family members want to increase their stake from about a third to over a half of outstanding shares, the Journal reported, taking advantage of the buying opportunity presented by its depressed share price.
The Nordstrom family tried to take the company private in 2017, but a board committee rejected the per-share offer price. Some board members are now trying to bring in an outsider to replace the two co-presidents, Pete and Erik Nordstrom, the Journal reported.
Unlike most of the rest of the retail world, Nordstrom has been providing more visibility into its ecommerce business, reporting it as a percentage of net sales and not just a quarter-on-quarter percentage growth. This was discussed on a recent MCM CommerceChat podcast with Wolf Richter, publisher of the Wolf Street financial blog.
Nordstrom has generally been weathering the retail storms, but did experience a falloff this past holiday season, especially in its full-priced stores.
You can read the rest of the Journal’s board story here.