- Saks Incorporated
Infobox_Company | company_name = Saks Incorporated| company_| company_type = Public (nyse|SKS) | foundation = 1999 in
Birmingham, Alabama | location =Jackson, Mississippi | industry =Retail | products = Saks Fifth Avenue
Off 5th
Club Libby Lu | revenue = profit$5.90 billionUSD (2005)
homepage = [http://www.saksincorporated.com/ www.saksincorporated.com] |Saks Incorporated (nyse|SKS) is a
Fortune 500 operator of high-end department stores in theUnited States . It is currently headquartered in Jackson, MS. Saks Incorporated was formerly known asProffitt's , Inc., prior to the company's 1998 acquisition of Saks Holdings, Inc., the owner ofSaks Fifth Avenue . Saks Holdings, Inc. had gone public only in 1996 and was majority owned by a group led byInvestcorp , aBahrain -based investor group. By September 2006, the company had divested all one-time holdings of Proffitt's, Inc. prior to the Saks acquisition.The company's flagship and namesake stores operate under the name of
Saks Fifth Avenue . It also operates several outlet stores under the "Off 5th" nameplate, and the e-commerce website Saks.com. The ventures comprise the Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises division of the company.History
Proffitt's Inc.
Saks Incorporated began as Proffitt's Inc., with five Proffitt’s stores in the
Knoxville, Tennessee metropolitan area. From 1994 to 1998, the company addedMcRae's ,Younkers ,Parisian ,Herberger's ,Carson Pirie Scott ,Boston Store , andBergner's chains, as well as 32 additional stores fromLoveman's ,Hess's ,Parks-Belk , andBrody's , which were converted into existing store nameplates.In September 1998, Proffitt’s Inc. and Saks Holdings Inc. completed a merger transaction where Saks Fifth Avenue and Off 5th outlet stores became a division of Proffitt’s Inc., and the corporate name was changed to Saks Incorporated. The former Saks Holdings properties eventually would become the Saks Fifth Avenue Enterprises division of the renamed corporation.
POV-section|date=September 2008Since the purchase of Saks Fifth Avenue by Proffitt's Inc., the company stock has taken a beating from the original opening price when Saks Fifth Avenue became a public company. The new Saks Incorporated has had one change in business direction after another without the appearance of anyone in control or guiding the corporation. Saks Inc. has sold off all other retailers with the exception of
Club Libby Lu , a small acquisition based in Chicago, Illinois, and SFA. The parent company still maintains a support center inJackson, Mississippi .Divestments
By 2005, Saks Incorporated began to seek a narrower focus towards the luxury-oriented retail synonymous with its Saks Fifth Avenue stores. The decision resulted in a July 2005 sale of its combined 47
Proffitt's andMcRae's stores toBelk for approximately $622 million.On October 31 that same year, Saks announced that it was selling the 142 stores within its Northern Department Store Group, including Carson Pirie Scott, Bergner's, Younkers, Herberger's, and Boston Store) to
Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., for $1.1 billion; the transaction was complete as of March 6, 2006. [ [http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=110111&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=827412&highlight= Saks Incorporated Completes Sale of Its Northern Department Store Group] ]On August 2, 2006, Saks Incorporated announced that it had agreed to sell its 38 Parisian stores, along with two regional distribution centers, to Belk, which rebranded them under their own name in the third quarter of 2007. Saks has also announced plans to relocate their headquarters from Birmingham to New York.
Other reports have indicated interest in selling off the Club Libby Lu stores. The company's activity within the last 12 months is seemingly oriented toward the return of Saks Fifth Avenue as an independently-operated brand for the first time in more than 30 years. Some industry experts have also speculated that the activity positions a streamlined Saks Incorporated itself for buyout at a later point.Fact|date=February 2007
ee also
*
Saks Fifth Avenue
*Proffitt's Notes
External links
* [http://www.saksincorporated.com/ Saks Incorporated Official Website]
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