A Tough Decision Was Made - Nordstrom Edition

FAMILY MATTERS

Poor little rich family. The Nordstroms got some bad news when a special committee to the board rejected a plan to take their namesake retailer private in a bid worth roughly $8B. The board committee was having none of the $50 per share offer which came in below the latest closing price.

Unlike the families of backwoods Appalachia, the Nordstroms didn’t have much of a choice but to keep it in the family. The first family of depressing department stores left as much as $550M on the rich mahogany table as the buyer group led by Leonard Green & Partners planned to snatch up approximately 21% of their current stake.

If nothing else, the Nordstroms can be LinkedIn endorsed for stubbornness as this isn’t the first time Bruce and Anne have tried to cash in on their grandfather’s life work. An attempt in October went about as well as you’d expect for a debt-laden victim of Amazon’s proverbial smallpox blankets.

Water Cooler Talking Point: “You know whats worse than selling a stock at $50 per share? Selling at $3 per share. Who better to know to get out while the getting’s good than the family whose name is on the door?”

(BroBible.com)