Victoria’s Secret Needs a Different Kind of Angel
A buyer willing to take the company private could deliver some much-needed grace — and a nice pay day for investors.
Anyone want to buy a lingerie company?
Photographer: Angela Weiss /AFP
Among the demands of Barington Capital Group, one of two activist investors seeking to shake up Victoria’s Secret & Co., is that the company bring back the “angels” — the glamorous supermodels once synonymous with America’s biggest underwear retailer.
But what Victoria’s Secret really needs is a different kind of angel: a buyer. Ideally, one that can offer a decent bid premium to long-suffering shareholders and enable the company to do the hard work needed to adapt to a new lingerie landscape, away from the glare of quarterly earnings. The agitators and the retailer should stop trading barbs, and instead work together to deliver value to all investors.