Good morning. The C-suite drama at Saks World was considered one of our hottest tales with subscribers final week—and it’s no surprise why. It had dangerous dealmaking, a failing actual property scion, and luxurious chains flailing despite the fact that shoppers are spending like by no means earlier than. Now there’s a brand new twist—Saks World has filed for Chapter 11 chapter safety and luxurious govt Geoffroy van Raemdonck may have the job of turning across the luxurious retail group.
It’s an space the place van Raemdonck definitely has related expertise: In 2018, he grew to become CEO of Neiman Marcus Group (which included Bergdorf Goodman), then struggling beneath the load of heavy debt from years of personal fairness possession. This time round, as CEO of Saks World, which additionally piled on debt stemming from the $2.7 billion union in 2024, he’ll have a good harder job with a number of chains to repair.
Throughout his six years operating Neiman Marcus, he succeeded in defending its market share from the business headwinds dealing with luxurious malls and returned it to profitability. As CEO of Neiman Marcus Group, he typically known as his administration philosophy “main with love,” a time period that always gained him snickers at conferences.
What it actually meant was ensuring luxurious was not merely transactional however extra a few deeper reference to the buyer, whether or not inspiring their loyalty from extremely customized service or making them really feel like they have been on the forefront of style. (He famously landed in controversy in 2023 after he advised Fortune that his plan was to deal with the well-heeled, rather more than on these aspiring to be a part of the elite.)
However you may’t woo prospects when you have stale or low stock, so profitable AWOL prospects, which must be van Raemdonck’s high precedence, will definitely have to start with mending fences with beleaguered distributors. Between sluggish enterprise and its money crunch, Saks has within the final two years delayed funds to many distributors. Lots of the suppliers, significantly smaller ones that would give Neiman and Saks tastemaking cachet, have stopped delivery to its shops. Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s have wasted no time in swooping in and grabbing a few of that market share.
Certainly, one of many causes van Raemdonck obtained the job, on high of his expertise heading Neiman, was his a few years of administration expertise as a vendor, together with years at Ralph Lauren and Louis Vuitton; he speaks their language.
His hands-on expertise guiding an organization via a chapter reorganization can be an enormous assist. He is aware of the right way to speak to financiers, distributors and staff unexpectedly. That’s a great place to start out within the quest to get these historic manufacturers again to well being.—Phil Wahba
Contact CEO Each day through Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com
High information
A ‘watch and see’ method to Iran
President Donald Trump mentioned Wednesday that Iran had stopped killing anti-government protestors, which appeared to dial down his earlier threats of a navy strike. Trump has vowed to assault Iran if it killed demonstrators. U.S. troops have been beginning to mobilize from a base in Qatar as human rights teams reported a whole bunch of such deaths. The president mentioned Wednesday, “we’re going to look at and see what the method is,” when requested whether or not a strike was now off the desk. Oil costs sank on the obvious deescalation.
Dimon’s break with Trump
Jamie Dimon has labored to restore his relationship with President Donald Trump, typically expressing help for the administration whereas watering down criticism of particular insurance policies. However now the JPMorgan CEO’s criticism of the DOJ’s Federal Reserve investigation threatens to derail the connection once more.
TSMC earnings enhance confidence
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported blowout earnings Thursday, posting greater revenue and income within the final three months of 2025. The world’s largest contract chip maker indicated it may meet surging demand for AI chips, reassuring tech buyers who had moved away from the Magnificent 7 in latest days.
One other visa crackdown
The U.S. will pause immigration visa processing for candidates from 75 nations, together with Russia, Iran, Brazil, Egypt, and Thailand because it tries to dam overseas nationals who might depend on public providers. The federal government will nonetheless challenge short-term visas.
AI’s danger to London jobs
In an tackle tonight, London Mayor Sadiq Khan will warn that AI may result in “a brand new period of mass unemployment” within the British capital and name on lawmakers to ascertain guardrails that guarantee AI is used for “optimistic transformation” and never the “destruction of jobs.”
Citigroup CEO points stern worker memo
Citigroup CEO Jan Fraser pressured to staff that “the bar is raised” in a brand new inner memo, reported beforehand by Bloomberg, that emphasised to staff that they’re “judged on our outcomes.” The financial institution plans to chop about 1,000 jobs this week.
Coinbase CEO throws wrench in Senate crypto act debates
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong abruptly got here out in opposition to the Genius Act, a landmark crypto invoice that’s set for debate by the Senate Banking Committee. Armstrong named quite a few particular critiques in his X submit, together with disagreements over providing rewards on stablecoin holdings and asserted that “we’d reasonably don’t have any invoice than a foul invoice.”
The markets
S&P 500 futures have been up 0.34% this morning. The final session closed down 0.53%. STOXX Europe 600 was up 0.36% in early buying and selling. The U.Ok.’s FTSE 100 was up o.52% in early buying and selling. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was down 0.42%. China’s CSI 300 was up o.2%. The South Korea KOSPI was up 1.58%. Indian markets are closed at this time. Bitcoin was at $97K.
Across the watercooler
Peter Thiel makes his greatest donation in years to assist defeat California’s billionaire wealth tax by Nick Lichtenberg
Complete Meals cofounder says his hardest ever enterprise resolution was firing his father from his firm board: ‘That was when my mentorship was over’ by Sasha Rogelberg
Rural America is getting a bailout, however not from Trump—billionaires are using to the rescue by Nick Lichtenberg
The job market is damaged, however Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is ‘pretty assured’ that AI will enhance productiveness and due to this fact, hiring—however there’s a catch by Preston Fore
CEO Each day is compiled and edited by Joey Abrams, Claire Zillman and Lee Clifford.
