Dive Brief:
- Beyond Inc. on Wednesday announced the acquisition of Zulily’s intellectual property and brand assets, according to a company press release.
- Assets purchased include Zulily’s website and domain names, trademarks, a customer database, social media accounts and website software.
- Beyond, which owns Overstock and Bed Bath & Beyond, made the purchase with cash on hand for $4.5 million plus related costs. The deal excludes all of Zulily’s liabilities, liens and debts.
Dive Insight:
Beyond obtained Zulily’s IP to further position itself within the discount market.
“This acquisition doubles down on our belief in the off-price market, and its importance to building our business, improving our margin profile, and growing our customer file,” Marcus Lemonis, executive chairman of Beyond, said in a statement. “Zulily, in combination with our legacy brand, Overstock, will provide our vendors multiple outlets that, not only meet customers at various price points, but also offer an additional outlet to improve their inventory turns and financial performance.”
Zulily, which launched in 2010, was once known for its flash sales and peaked at a market cap of $7 billion in 2014. The online discount women’s and apparel retailer ceased operations at the end of last year after laying off hundreds of employees. Zulily placed its inventory up for sale in January and put its brand assets up for sale by the end of February.
The new Zulily website is expected to be functional by the end of the second quarter. Both the company’s website and app are already built and available through Shopify and the company will integrate its fulfillment, logistics and operations through existing teams.
Overstock purchased Bed Bath & Beyond’s IP for $21.5 million last June following the retailer’s bankruptcy nearly a year ago. Months later, Overstock announced that it would change its corporate name to Beyond Inc. The company made the decision to shut down Overstock.com, which newly appointed executive chairman Lemonis would go on to call a “fatal mistake.” The Overstock brand will relaunch later in March, according to the company.
