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Macy's flagship sttore Herald Square Manhattan

Activist Investor Takes Macy’s Stake, Urges Spin-off of E-Commerce Business

Activist investor Jana Partners has taken a stake in Macy’s and sent a letter to the department store chain’s board urging it to separate its e-commerce business, CNBC reported Thursday, following an earlier report by the Wall Street Journal. A source told CNBC that New York City-based Macy’s online business has already drawn interest from firms that would invest in it, in conjunction with a spinoff. 

In a presentation earlier this month, Jana said Macy’s online business could be worth about $14 billion, twice the $7-billion market value the department store currently has. Jana suggested the split at that time without saying anything about its stake in the department store operator, reported CNBC. 

Such a separation would mimic a similar one from department-store operator Saks Fifth Avenue, which earlier this year spilt off its digital business into a separate company. The deal valued Saks.com at $2 billion. 

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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