It seems that the United Kingdom and its businesses wasn’t spared by the ‘retail apocalypse’ that has been plaguing the rest of the business world. Case in point is billionaire Philip Green who’s feeling the effect of the rising popularity of online shopping as his retail empire struggles to survive.
Crumbling Empire
According to reports, the 67-year-old’s once thriving retail empire is now falling due to a mix of the misconduct allegations Green is facing paired with the slowing sales of the companies under his Arcadia Group of companies. Green, and her wife Christina, have supposedly already lost a whopping $3.38 billion over the past three years. Even worse, a billion of that went down the drain this year alone.
Struggling to compete with the suddenly popular low cost online fashion brands, the billionaire’s brands like Topshop was close to collapsing. Fortunately, the landlords of his stand alone stores within the United Kingdom agreed to keep them open. Meanwhile, his wife is also helping with the rent.
What’s Killing Topshop
Topshop, along with its men’s fashion counterpart Topman, was dubbed as the crown of the British billionaire’s retail empire and it’s not hard to see why. For a time, the brand became the go-to shop of numerous British young adults and teenagers. It was even once valued at a whopping $3 billion and launched its expansion into the American market.
But things aren’t as great as before. Some say that Topshop’s valuation has drastically dropped to essentially $0 with some of its investors opting to sell back their shares of the company to Green. Apparently, they weren’t that pleased with a company which doesn’t seem to invest in expanding its presence in the online marketplace despite the popularity of online shopping.
Not only that, its own executives seem to be abandoning a sinking ship as well as David Shepherd, its COO, and Jamie Drummond Smith, an expert in restructuring, leaves. As of latest, all 11 Topshop stores in the United States has been announced to close with their British counterparts following suit.
Billionaire’s Beginnings
With Green’s recent failures, it’s quite interesting to look back at his humble beginnings as a middle class Londoner. After working at a shoe warehouse, the ambitious then-young man began his business of importing and selling jeans. He later on bought and successfully revived a dying retail brand, Jean Jeanie, turning it into a multi-million dollar brand.
He acquired Arcadia Group, under which brands like Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Burtons and Miss Selfridge belong to, in 2002. About 14 years later, the businessman and his wife were worth a combined almost $6 billion and were rubbing elbows with the likes of Cara Delevingne and Beyonce. Unfortunately, they might not be able to enjoy their billionaire lifestyle sooner or later.
