Walmart Sells Bonobos to Express/WHP for $75 Million

Walmart (Bentonville, Ark.) is selling menswear brand Bonobos Inc. (New York) to fashion apparel retailer Express (Columbus) and brand management firm WHP Global (New York). The deal, for $75 million, is the first acquisition to be made jointly by WHP Global and Express since finalizing their strategic partnership earlier this year.

“Bonobos is an ideal first acquisition for our new partnership with EXPR and will be a terrific addition to our fashion vertical. Post-closing, WHP Global’s portfolio will include more than 10 powerful consumer brands approaching $7 billion in total retail sales,” said Yehuda Shmidman, WHP Global Chairman and CEO.

Bonobos, founded in 2007 and acquired by Walmart in 2017 for $310 million, operates about 60 “guideshop” stores in which customers try on apparel and then order it online.

In its coverage of the deal, Quartz reported that the Bonobos buy came at a time that Walmart “was on a direct-to-consumer (DTC) acquisition spree, which was followed by a selling spree. It scooped up women’s retailer Modcloth, only to sell it off within two years. It bought and sold lingerie retailer Bare Necessities and Shoes.com swiftly, too. … Walmart appears to be pivoting away from hoarding a bunch of retail brands, focusing instead on growing as a ‘tech-powered omnichannel retailer.’”

Express CEO Tim Baxter noted that “Bonobos is delivering double-digit sales growth and we plan to continue that momentum while also realizing operating synergies and other economies of scale.”

Bonobos CEO John Hutchison will become Brand President of the company and report to Baxter once the transaction closes this summer. Bonobos will remain at its current headquarters in New York.