Saks Seeks Bankruptcy Protection and Names New CEO

Luxury retail company Saks Global has declared bankruptcy amid mounting debts.

The company, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue stores as well as department stores Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas, it said in a Wednesday (Jan. 14) news release.

The company says it has secured $1.75 billion in financing, while also appointing Geoffroy van Raemdonck as its new CEO. He replaces Richard Baker, who was named to the chief executive position at the start of the year and stepped down Tuesday (Jan. 13).

Baker had succeeded Marc Metrik, who had been CEO for 10 years before stepping down in January to pursue other ventures, as the company put it.

“This is a defining moment for Saks Global, and the path ahead presents a meaningful opportunity to strengthen the foundation of our business and position it for the future,” said van Raemdonck, who had been CEO of Neiman Marcus before its merger with Saks in 2024.

“In close partnership with these newly appointed leaders and our colleagues across the organization, we will navigate this process together with a continued focus on serving our customers and luxury brands.”

Saks says it is now “evaluating its operational footprint” to invest resources where the company has greatest long-term potential as it tries to focus the business in places where its “luxury retail brands are best positioned for sustainable growth.”

The bankruptcy announcement follows reports last week that Saks was mulling competing offers for bankruptcy financing, both of them lower than the $1.75 billion announced Wednesday.

Saks raised billions of dollars in 2024 to fund its turnaround effort, which included purchasing NMG, the parent company of Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman. The plan was to create a “technology-powered luxury retail company” whose investors included Amazon.

But that deal put the company deeper in debt as it faced continued complaints from suppliers about missed payments. Saks had told analysts in June of last year that it had mostly settled those complaints, which had caused many of its vendors to pause shipments.

However, a report in August of 2025 from an industry publication said that some suppliers were still waiting on payments from Saks Global.

Saks raised financing over the summer, but said in a court filing that it wasn’t enough to pay back its trade partners or beef up inventory for the holiday season.