Market Snapshot

Born to be Wild

Eddie Bauer, the outdoor retailer that’s been fueling your adventurous side since 1920, might be waving the white flag.

The company has hired investment banks to assist with debt relief on a $225 million term loan (due in 2019) and a $200 million revolving credit line (due in 2020)—and possibly a sale.

For the Washington-based 370-store brand, liquidity has remained a question since raising the money at the beginning of 2014.

Bauer’s no stranger to shake-ups

The retail clothing brand has been passed around more times than a bottle of Cuervo on Cinco de Mayo.

In 1968, Bauer first sold the retail brand to William Niemi and son for $1.5 million—Niemi expanded operations into San Francisco, but quickly parted ways.

Niemi then sold the brand to General Mills (-0.11%), which shifted the brand’s focus towards casual clothing and boosted sales to $250 million by 1988.

By then, American direct marketing company Spiegel Catalog wanted a shot at the action. It purchased Bauer for $260 million.

Take a deep breath, we’re almost through this.

Come 2003, in an announcement that came as a complete shock to absolutely no one, the catalog business failed, Spiegel filed for bankruptcy and Eddie Bauer was once again up for sale.

In 2009, Bauer filed for Chapter 11 (remember: that’s a fancy term for court-backed bankruptcy protection).

Don’t worry though, Golden Gate Capital saved the day for a clean $286 million.

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AND FINALLY we make it to 2017

…where once again, Bauer might put itself on the auction block. Eddie Bauer has no intention of restructuring its massive pileup of IOUs.

So here’s the gameplan: figure out a way to shave off some of this debt or start dusting off the “For Sale” signs.

E-commerce: ∞

Retail industry: 0

Thanks for playing.

Just Put It On the CC

Elon Musk has never had an issue swiping the company card—don’t expect that to end any time soon.

Tesla (+0.22%) just boosted its credit line by $800 million, bringing total credit agreements (to date) to $3.825 billion. It’s the second time in six months Tesla has pumped up its balance sheet ahead of Model 3 production.

And now, Musk is hoping 400,000 in preorders and a brand spankin’ new line of credit will be just what Tesla needs to jumpstart its new economy class sedan.

But here’s some food for thought: Tesla has been around since 2003, has a market cap of $64 billion and still isn’t profitable.

Let’s see if the Model 3 can do the trick.

Five-Star Cruisin’

The Ritz-Carlton is making its first major brand extension into seafaring. In other news, “Sperry’s” began trending on Google search for the first time in a decade.

The five-star hotel brand is now building out a line of three ultra-luxury cruise ships that will cost about $200 million each.

Ritz-Carlton’s captain, Herve Humler, cited a cruise sector expansion of 8.5% each year as one reason for the new venture.

Another? The Ritz revealed that at least 400,000 hotel guests are cruisers as well. Shocking.

Deal or No Deal

The talks that began between Europe and Japan in 2013 are coming to a close in one of the largest trade deals ever. It’s gonna be “uge.”

The agreement would include two bodies that combine for $20 trillion in economic output, which would rival NAFTA as one of the world’s largest free trading blocs.

And while Japan’s main pressure point is lowering the export tariff on things like automobiles, Europe is looking to cut taxes on goods like chocolate (10%), canned tomatoes (9%) and cheese (30%).

Gotta get that gouda.
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Tell Me More…

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• Interior design startup Houzz just raised $400 million at a $4 billion valuation.
• Health insurance provider Anthem (-1.65%) is paying $115 million in fines related to its 2015 data breach.

From the Crew