Made.com goes into administration with up to 600 jobs lost as high street giant Next swoops in
Made.com goes into administration with up to 600 jobs lost as high street giant Next buys the retailer’s brand name and website
- Made.com’s operating subsidiary, MDL, appointed administrators on Tuesday
- It has not been announced how many, if any, of 600 jobs will be saved by Next
- Rapid fall of company comes two years after its £775m debut on stock exchange
Next has bought the brand of furniture seller Made.com after the business filed for administration on Tuesday.
Made, which employs around 600 people, said it will sell its brand, websites and intellectual property to the clothes retailer.
It is a sharp downturn for the company, which launched on the London Stock Exchange less than two years ago with a £775 million price tag and promises of accelerated growth and leading the online furniture market.
On Tuesday, Made’s operating subsidiary, MDL, was forced to appoint administrators from specialist firm PwC who immediately tied up the deal with Next.
They did not say whether any jobs will be saved as part of the deal.
Made chairwoman Susanne Given said: ‘Having run an extensive process to secure the future of the business, we are deeply disappointed that we have reached this point and how it will affect all our stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.
‘We appreciate and deeply regret the frustration that MDL going into administration will have caused for everyone.’
Made, which employs around 600 people, said it will sell its brand, websites and intellectual property to the clothes retailer (Pictured: Made.com London headquarters)
Made.com had also already halted new orders and said it is currently not offering refunds or accepting returns from customers, although it is still intending to fulfil previous orders
The writing had been on the wall for several days after Made last month abandoned hopes of finding a buyer to save it and inject the cash it needed to stay afloat.
The troubled company filed a notice to appoint administrators last week after being hit by soaring costs and slowing customer demand.
Made.com had also already halted new orders and said it is currently not offering refunds or accepting returns from customers, although it is still intending to fulfil previous orders.
The retailer has offices in London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, China and Vietnam.
It is understood the company had garnered interest from a number of parties to purchase parts of the business since tipping into insolvency before tying up the deal with Next.
The firm’s shares had already been suspended.
This was the message on Made.com for customers who tried to browse on the firm’s website when it stopped taking orders last month
Ms Given said: ‘I want to sincerely thank all our employees, customers, suppliers and partners for your support throughout the past 12 years, and especially during this difficult time where we have tried so hard to find a workable solution for the company and all its stakeholders.’
It comes after signs of real trouble emerged in July, when Made.com slashed its sales and earnings guidance for 2022, stating it did not expect an improvement in demand for big-ticket items any time soon.
Wages have failed to keep pace with inflation, which hit a more than 40-year high of 10.1 per cent in September.
Made.com said its gross sales fell 19 per cent in the first half of 2022 year-on-year.
Reflecting recent non-recurring costs, volatile trading and an expectation of no near-term improvement in discretionary big-ticket demand nor in new customer acquisition, the group forecast a 15 per cent to 30 per cent fall in full-year gross sales.
It also forecast a core loss of £50million to £70million, against a previous expectation of a loss of £15million to £35 million.
The dot com pioneer, the author of teen sex guide and the serial entrepreneur: the people behind Made.com
Made.com has gone into administration following the collapse of a last-minute effort to try and rescue the struggling furniture firm. But it wasn’t always so gloomy for the company, which began promisingly in 2010 with its ambitious founders once hoping to make the firm ‘the next Ikea’. Here, MailOnline looks at some of those behind the online furniture firm’s origins
Chloe Macintosh: The French entrepreneur was among the first team to set up the company and was a key driving force behind the company’s creative team and stepped down as its creative director in 2015.
But since leaving, she has raised eyebrows with some of her other ventures, which last year included creating a ‘First Time Sex Starter Kit’ with her 16-year-old son to help teens lose their virginity.
French entrepreneur Chloe Macintosh, who lives in London, has revealed how she created a ‘First Time Sex Starter Kit’ with her sixteen-year-old son to help teens losing their virginity (pictured with her sons Felix, 16, and Elliot, 14)
Chloe, who lives in London and is the former creative officer at the private members’ club Soho House, came up with the idea for a sex education app during lockdown, launching Kama, which features guidance for all ages on a number of different topics, including foreplay and anal sex.
The ‘starter kit’ element came about organically when her eldest son, Felix, then 16, was chatting about sex with his 19-year-old cousin, Jules.
Once her son’s friends started to hear she was launching the guidance on the app, they began asking her to include different topics, including what position to start with, and what to do when things go wrong.
Chloe told HuffPost: ‘We never learn how to relate, to create intimacy, to listen, to touch.
‘So the content we wanted to put out there is more than some tips to put a condom on, but more relating to the experience and making is as relaxed and comfortable as possible.’
Chloe explained how sex was ‘never’ a topic in her own youth, and she wanted to encourage her sons to have healthy relationships in the future.
She began work on the app during the Covid-19 pandemic, while both of her sons, Felix and Elliot, 14, were at home.
She confessed the topic of sex is unavoidable in their home, where there are ‘sex books everywhere’ as well as ‘toys and gadgets’.
Brent Hoberman: As a 29-year-old entrepreneur, Brent was among the pioneers leading the .com revolution.
Brent Hoberman (left), pictured with Martha Lane-Fox who helped found Lastminute.com
He set up online travel giant LastMinute.com back in 1998 with business partner Martha Lane-Fox. The company helps travels find cheap holidays abroad.
Having built the business from scratch, it was sold to Sabre Holdings in July 2005 for £577 million – despite the company having recorded a £77 million loss in 2004.
Five years later and he was among the four people to found Made.com, which by 2021 when it joined the London Stock Exchange, was worth a whopping £775 million
Ning Li: Born in China, Ning moved to France as a youngster to study there. But he always had ambitions of becoming an entrepreneur.
Ning Li was the former chief executive officer of Made.com. He remains as a director of the firm, according to Companies House
The young businessman set up his first firm, e-commerce company called Myfab in 2007 before joining the founding team at Made.com in 2010.
Speaking to the Guardian about his inspiration for Made.com, Ning said: ‘A friend in China who was a furniture manufacturer told me he would sell a sofa for £400 to agents, who would then re-sell it to a wholesaler in Europe, but when it eventually came to the store the price tag was outrageous.
‘The same sofa was selling for £3,000. I saw the opportunity of using the internet to disrupt the supply chain.’
He was the furniture firm’s chief executive until 2016, when he stepped down from the role. He is still listed as a director for Made.com.
Julien Callede: The final of the company’s four founders, Julien was Made.com’s chief operating officer.
The entrepreneur said the online retailer took off rapidly, gaining traction far sooner than he or his fellow co-founders could have anticipated.
‘Made.com gathered momentum very quickly, but because we didn’t anticipate such rapid growth, we made mistakes, mainly, we faced logistical challenges that came with growing the business so quickly,’ he told Bayes Business School in London in 2017.
He added: ‘Yes, it as successful, but at times, it was difficult.’