One Kings Lane, an online seller of furniture and home decor that has spent the last several years struggling to generate revenue, is in the process of trying to find a buyer.
And they are willing to lure said buyer with a very tempting price — described by some as a “fire sale” — insofar as the firm is willing to take a price less than the $230 million the firm has already raised in venture capital.
It remains unclear if the deal has been done already or who the potential buyer likely is. The top estimate on the sale price is $150 million, a far cry from the $900 million valuation the firm was once assigned.
And that low number means investors are losing money and employees are now likely holding corporate stock worth less than the “paper” it is printed on. Reports in Re/code also indicate that One Kings Lane’s investors have a liquidation preference, as it would mean they get paid before common stock holders (AKA employees).
CEO Dinesh Lathi declined to comment.
So what happened?
One Kings Lane is a high-end furniture and home decor dealer that was part of the “flash-sales” wave that crashed into consumer shores about five years ago. On the cresting wave of that, the firm grew incredibly fast and at one point raised $112 million on a valuation of $900 million (not quite unicorn, but certainly eyeing the pasture).
Things went quickly downhill from there — the CEO left, staff headcount fell and its LA office closed. Consumers lost their excitement for the flash sale, and the company could never quite get into the profitability zone.
As recently as December, the firm cut 25 percent of its staff, including five senior managers.
According to internal sources, those layoffs were part of the forthcoming deal.
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