Saks Global CEO Richard Baker set to exit, Bloomberg News reports

Jan 13 (Reuters) – Luxury retailer Saks Global’s CEO Richard Baker is departing less than two weeks after taking over the top job, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the situation, as the embattled company stares at bankruptcy.

The former chief of Neiman Marcus Geoffroy van Raemdonck is being picked to steer Saks Global through its expected bankruptcy proceedings as its new chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. 

Van Raemdonck will bring along two other former Neiman executives to run Saks Global, according to the WSJ report.

Separately, Reuters exclusively reported that the company is close to finalizing $1.75 billion in financing with creditors that would allow its iconic Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus stores to remain open while the department stores conglomerate reorganizes its debt and operations in bankruptcy, which could be filed as soon as Tuesday.

Baker, also Saks’ executive chairman, took the helm on January 2, replacing Marc Metrick, and was working on his exit in recent days, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

Saks Global and Van Raemdonck did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.

A retailer long loved by the rich and famous, including such 1950s Hollywood stars as Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly, Saks fell on hard times after the COVID pandemic, as competition from online outlets rose, and brands started selling items through their own stores more frequently.

In 2024, then-parent company Hudson’s Bay bet on scale by merging it with rival Neiman Marcus, creating the entity now known as Saks Global. The $2.7 billion deal was built on about $2 billion in debt financing and equity contributions from investors including Amazon, Salesforce and Authentic Brands.

The merger was designed to create a luxury powerhouse, but it saddled Saks with debt at a time when global luxury sales were slowing, complicating an already difficult turnaround for CEO and veteran executive Metrick.

Van Raemdonck served as CEO of Neiman Marcus Group from 2018 to 2024, pulling the luxury department store chain through a pandemic-driven bankruptcy and its subsequent recovery. However, he stepped down following the company’s acquisition by Saks.

Bloomberg News had reported earlier in the day that Van Raemdonck was negotiating for a role at the company.

(Reporting by Koyena Das, Juveria Tabassum, Anuja Bharat Mistry, Sanskriti Shekhar and Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru and Nicholas P. Brown in New York; Editing by Alan Barona)