Mickey Drexler, chairman of J.Crew, thinks his company would be a perfect target for Amazon, which spent billions this summer to purchase Whole Foods Market.
According to a Recode news report, the former CEO of J.Crew said he reached out to Amazon about a potential sale. “We went to visit some of his team members on that,” Drexler said of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times’ DealBook conference. “And to me, it would have been an extraordinarily smart thing to do. I thought Walmart should have done it, too. I thought Target should have done it. The thing that these big companies need is creativity.”
The executive noted that if he was still CEO of J.Crew, he would not allow their clothes to be sold on Amazon.
The comments come as Amazon is making a big push into apparel, working on in-house clothing brands for men, women and kids. Like other retailers, J.Crew – which is owned by private equity firm TPG – has been struggling in recent years due to the prevalence of online shopping.
It also comes as the country’s largest banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bank of America and Citigroup, are reducing loans to retailers at a time when the industry is also facing doubts from bond investors. According to TheStreet, JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, cut its total exposure to consumer and retail companies by 3.6 percent last quarter, down to $87 billion as of September 30. In addition, Bank of America lowered its retail exposure by 7.7 percent, while Citigroup cut consumer, retail and health loans and commitments to 16 percent of its overall corporate portfolio, down from 17 percent on June 30.
Retailers have struggled in recent years due to a drop in consumer spending and a shift toward online shopping. The third quarter saw defaults from major companies including J.Crew, True Religion and Toys”R”Us.
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