NEW YORK: Former US domestic goddess Martha Stewart has sold her lifestyle business empire in a deal worth $353m (£223m).
The sale of her media and merchandising business to Sequential Brands Group marks a sharp drop in the value of the group which was worth $1.8bn (£1.1bn) when the company went public in 1999.
Under the deal, main shareholder Stewart will remain as chief creative officer.
Ms Stewart said in a statement: “This is a transformational merger for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the company I founded in 1997.
This merger is positioned to further the growth and expansion of the unique Martha home and lifestyle brand.”
Sequential said the addition to its stable of brands, including Avia sports clothing, Ellen Tracy, and Linens ‘n Things, would increase its sales to $3.75bn (£2.4bn).
Yehuda Shmidman, chief executive of Sequential, said the brand was still strong reaching about 100 million customers, and pointed to research showing the Martha Stewart name had 96% awareness among women in the US.
But the price paid by Sequential underlines the decline in the appeal of the once popular home decor and lifestyle brand, which evoked the middle-class suburban American dream.
The company has suffered from stiff competition including from bloggers writing about home decorating and cake baking, alongside a decline in appeal among the iPhone generation.
Allen Adamson, chairman of Landor Associates, a brand research firm, said: “The days when people looked to one person to tell them how to entertain, live tastefully are gone.
Today, there are many voices. She can’t go back to retaking that mantle because that mantle is gone.”
