LVMH agrees $850m sale of Marc Jacobs brand IP

Image credit Marc Jacobs

LVMH has agreed to sell the Marc Jacobs fashion label to a joint venture between WHP Global (which owns a portfolio of fashion and retail brands including Toys’r’Us) and G-III Apparel Group in a deal valued at up to $850 million.

LVMH, the French luxury group controlled by financier Bernard Arnault, has been trying to tackle falling sales and reorganise its brand portfolio for the past few years, as consumers spend less on luxury items across the board, particularly in Asia. Business media outlets also suggest that the brands it owns are out of step with younger markets. LVMH, which dominates the luxury sector worldwide, has been hard hit.

As industry site The Robin Report says:

“When the world’s largest luxury group [LVMH] loses momentum - at $94 billion in sales, it is about four times larger than closest rivals Richemont ($25 billion), Kering ($17 billion), and Hermès ($16 billion) - it’s not just a company story. It’s a luxury sector clarion call.”

LVMH also recently admitted that current sales of luxury goods in the Middle East were being impacted by the war between the US, Israel, and Iran.

The latest deal, announced on Thursday 04/06/26 and expected to complete by the end of this year, will give WHP and G-III equal ownership of Marc Jacobs’ intellectual property via a 50/50 joint venture, with each company contributing up to $425m of the purchase price.

WHP Global said the acquisition would lift its global retail sales above $9.5bn and strengthen a fashion portfolio that already includes Vera Wang, rag & bone, and G-Star. Under the agreement, G-III Apparel Group will operate Marc Jacobs’ direct-to-consumer and wholesale businesses globally, while WHP will oversee licensing arrangements.

Designer Marc Jacobs will remain creative director of the brand he founded in 1984. LVMH acquired it in 1997 for an undisclosed sum, when Marc Jacobs began a 17-year stint as creative director for the group’s lead fashion brand, Louis Vuitton. US media reports have suggested that the sum involved could have been as low as $140,000.

Last month, the Financial Times ran an article exploring LVMH’s shift from buying brands to disposing of them, titled LVMH goes from buyer to seller as luxury’s winter drags on.

The piece said:

“LVMH is exploring sales of fashion houses, beauty labels, and alcoholic drinks brands in one of the most significant retrenchments of its near 40-year history, as the luxury industry leader slims down in response to a period of lower demand. The businesses LVMH had put up for sale included fashion label Marc Jacobs, its stake in singer Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty brand and US wine producer Joseph Phelps Vineyards, said people familiar with the matter.”

LVMH has also sold off elements of its travel retail operations, DFS, in China, and has said it will continue to reduce its duty-free operations. Apparently, younger Chinese consumers are switching to buying fashion and luxury items online, and are also choosing local Asian brands above European ones.