Beyond Inc., the parent of Bed Bath & Beyond, has decided that its Zulily brand is no longer a fit.
Beyond entered into a deal to sell a majority stake in Zulily to Lyons Trading Company. The 75 percent stake was sold for $5 million, with Beyond keeping at 25 percent interest in the brand. Lyons operates the online off-price retailer Proozy.com
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“We have made significant progress in improving the performance of Bed Bath & Beyond and Overstock.com through sequential margin improvement, improved site experience, vendor consolidation and right-sizing our fixed expenses, Beyond’s president and CFO Adrianne Lee said. “With the recent acquisition of BuyBuy Baby, we want our team laser focused on our core brands as we march towards profitability.”
Beyond inked its deal to acquire BuyBuyBaby last month for $5 million. The deal brought back the baby banner and the Bed Bath & Beyond brand back under the same roof. Prior to Bed Bath & Beyond’s Chapter 11 filing in April 2023, the two banners were corporate siblings. The summer before the filing, BuyBuy Baby was known as the better performing operation, with Wall Street analysts believing that a sale could fetch between $630 million to $910 million that could go towards the Bed Bath & Beyond turnaround. After the bankruptcy filing, the BuyBuy Baby assets were sold to baby retailer Dream On Me for $15.5 million.
Beyond—its corporate name was Overstock.com when it acquired the Bed Bath & Beyond banner out of bankruptcy—acquired the defunct Zulily brand’s intellectual property and digital assets for $4.5 million in March 2024. The thinking then of Beyond’s executive chairman Marcus Lemonis was that the company can double down on the off-price market because the Zulily and Overstock platforms could provide vendors with multiple outlets, as well as provide customers with different price points.
But Beyond was beset with growing pains, and by October 2024 embarked on an asset-light business model. Beyond was also transitioning to include an affinity and data monetization program. Following the acquisition of BuyBuy Baby, the Zulily brand was no longer a fit with the company’s core operations.
“This sale reflects our commitment to resource optimization, our mandate to delivering profits for our home and family-centric brands, and a focus on our largest growth opportunities as a company,” Alex Thomas, Beyond’s chief operating officer, said.
Zulily has undergone multiple ownership changes since its beginnings as a children’s flash-sale site in 2009. An initial public offering in 2013 valued the company at $2.6 billion. But then sales slowed and the company was acquired by Liberty Interactive’s QVC division in August 2015 for $2.4 billion. The brand restructured operations in 2019, and was later sold to private equity firm Regent LP in May 2023. Regent shut down the operation in December 2023.