Saks Global files for bankruptcy protection
Shoppers walk outside the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in Manhattan on January 6, 2026 in New York, USA.
Angelina Katsanis | Reuters
Saks Global, the parent company of the 159-year-old department store, which has become both a destination and a symbol of luxury fashion, has filed for bankruptcy protection. After he ran out of cash and couldn’t find investors willing to finance his business.
Most importantly, the retailer has filed for Chapter 11, which would give it a chance to reorganize its business, clear its debts and possibly find a buyer willing to take it on as a going concern.
The company announced Wednesday that former Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck will take over as CEO effective immediately, replacing Richard Baker, who has been on the job for just two weeks.
Saks also announced that it had received a financing commitment of approximately $1.75 billion to strengthen its balance sheet.
As recently as last week, Saks was having trouble securing up to $1 billion in financing for its borrower-owner loan, which provides funds to keep a business running during Chapter 11 proceedings, CNBC previously reported. If Saks had not adjusted the DIP loan, this would have made a Chapter 7 liquidation filing more likely.
Bankruptcy filing for Saks Global had seemed inevitable for weeks after the company missed paying interest to bondholders late last month. What’s still unclear is what will happen to the company and the roughly 200 doors under its umbrella at the discount chain and Saks’ namesake stores, along with Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.
Bankruptcy proceedings can lead to a variety of potential outcomes. A deep-pocketed strategic buyer could swoop in and buy the entire company and save it from liquidation. Saks may also go into liquidation as other parts of its business, such as smaller Neiman’s and Bergdorf’s, are sold. Like former rivals Lord & Taylor, Saks, Neiman, and Bergdorf (or a combination of the three) could close all of their stores and become online-only businesses.
Saks Global’s future will become clearer in the coming weeks as bankruptcy proceedings continue and the company continues to seek new investors.
How did Saks break up?
Although it caters to some of the world’s wealthiest customers, Saks is constantly running out of cash and can’t pay some of its bills. It acquired longtime rival Neiman Marcus in 2024 in a $2.7 billion deal financed largely by debt.
Yet even before purchasing Neiman’s, Saks was struggling to pay its vendors. Saks said at the time that through the acquisition, the company received an amount of new money that would deleverage the combined business and provide it with “significant liquidity.”
The merger brought in a new slate of wealthy investors from the tech world, including Amazon and Salesforce, and was expected to create an upscale department store hub with an improved cost structure and stronger bargaining power.
Instead, Saks failed to implement the returns investors had come to rely on. It briefly improved on paying its vendors, but then moved to 90-day payment terms, angering and alienating brands who said the terms were too onerous to work on their business.
It soon stopped paying suppliers once again, leading to a decline in both product assortment and sales.
In the background, Saks’ debt began trading below par value, raising questions about the company’s ability to continue operations and make interest payments to bondholders, people familiar with the matter said. It raised $600 million in new financing over the summer and sold significant real estate assets to raise more cash.
Although these efforts bought the company some time, they did not ultimately prevent it from filing for bankruptcy.
