Westchester’s one and only Martha Stewart has officially sold away her empire. Sequential Brands Group, a New York City-based brand management group, has purchased all of the shares of Martha Stewart Living Omnipedia Inc. for approximately $200 million dollars, or about $6.15 per share. Although that may sound like a pretty penny, the company once peaked in value at an estimated $1 billion dollars, showing how much of a beating the Martha brand has taken in recent years.
But fear not, disciples of Martha! The lifestyle queen, who resides in Katonah, will reportedly stay with the company under the title of “chief creative officer”, according to a press release from Sequential Brands Group. She will also reportedly become nominated to serve on the new board of directors.
In the press release, Stewart speaks of her optimism for the company’s future, saying, “This is a transformational merger for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the company I founded in 1997. This merger is positioned to further the growth and expansion of the unique Martha home and lifestyle brand.” She also adds, “The Sequential team is smart, hardworking, and understands the power and limitless opportunity of the Martha Stewart brand and its formidable design, editorial and marketing teams. I’m looking forward to working with them.”
Yehuda Shmidman, the CEO of Sequential Media Group, praised Stewart in the press release stating, “Martha Stewart’s impact around the world is staggering, and the empire she founded is unmatched in its industry.” He also expressed his hope for the future saying, “Looking ahead, we believe that we can leverage our global activation platform at Sequential in partnership with Martha and her team to develop the next chapter of growth for the Martha Stewart brand. We are honored to have this opportunity and thrilled to be working together with Martha Stewart.”
Top Photo by nrkbeta used under Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license
