The End of a 60 Year Era
Leslie Wexner to Step Down
Ties to the Disgraced Financier Jeffrey Epstein
Leslie Wexner to Step Down as Victoria’s Secret Is Sold
'Mr.
Wexner, who built L Brands into a retailing force, had come under scrutiny for
his ties to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.'
Leslie H. Wexner, 82, will step down as the chief executive and chairman of L
Brands as the company announced Thursday that it would sell a majority stake of
its crown jewel, the lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret, to a private equity firm.
The sale came after months of scrutiny of Mr. Wexner’s close ties to the
disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and questions about the company’s internal
culture.
L Brands said it would sell a 55 percent stake of the lingerie brand to
Sycamore Partners, a firm that specializes in retailers, for $525 million.
Mr. Wexner will become chairman emeritus of L Brands when the deal is
finalized, which is expected this spring. Bath & Body Works, also owned by L
Brands, will become a separate public company.
Over the years, he has been described as “one of the great merchant princes of
the late 20th century,” a “rag-trade
revolutionary” and the “Merlin
of the mall.”
Mr. Wexner, 82,
employed Mr. Epstein as a personal adviser, the pedophile financier
who died by suicide last August awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.
For years Wexner, handed him sweeping powers over his finances,
philanthropy and private life. Mr. Epstein was empowered to borrow money
on behalf of Mr. Wexner and sign Mr. Wexner’s tax returns, as well as hire
people and make acquisitions. Over the years, Mr. Epstein obtained a mansion
in Manhattan, a luxury estate in Ohio and a private plane — possessions worth
roughly $100 million today — that had previously been owned by Mr. Wexner or his
companies.
After Mr. Epstein’s arrest last summer, L Brands said it had hired the law firm
Davis Polk & Wardwell to conduct “a thorough review” of the matter at the
request of its board of directors. Tammy Roberts Myers, a spokeswoman for L
Brands, said on Thursday that the company did not have an update on the
investigation or its future based on the transaction.
The New York Times reported this month that Victoria’s Secret has had for years
an
entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment. The report was
based on interviews with more than 30 current and former executives, employees,
contractors and models, as well as court filings and other documents. The
culture was presided over by Mr. Wexner and Edward Razek, the chief marketing
officer of L Brands who was the subject of numerous complaints that went
unheeded.
When asked about the controversy that has clouded the last year of Mr. Wexner’s
career, Mr. Peterson called it “30 years of brilliance crashing to a halt.”
He added, “What a tragic ending to a really brilliant story.”
nytimes.com
nypost.com
wsj.com
How Victoria's Secret Lost Its Grip
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