This isn’t the way either Tapestry Inc. or Capri Holdings expected their $8.5 billion engagement to end.
But now that the breakup has come — after a preliminary and all-but-final injunction from a Manhattan federal judge — experts said Tapestry is able to move on, keep building on its successful Coach business, and maybe even buy something else.
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Capri is another story, with analysts speculating the firm might have to ultimately sell off brands and go private to rebuild.
It’s been an expensive and ultimately disappointing fling.
Tapestry paid $109 million in deal-related expenses and $116.7 million in interest expense on debt accumulated to close the acquisition last fiscal year. Capri recorded at least $25 million in deal-related costs.
But the real price Capri has paid was in the stock market.
The company’s shares had been buoyed by the prospect of the $57 a share buyout by Tapestry, but it collapsed on Friday after the Federal Trade Commission scored a major victory in its antitrust case against the deal, and closed down 48.9 percent to $21.25 Friday, leaving the parent of Michael Kors, Versace and Jimmy Choo with a market capitalization of just $2.5 billion.
The broken deal is partially to blame, but the rest can likely be pinned on the performance of the business since the buyout was signed in August 2023.
Capri’s revenues fell 13.2 percent to $1.07 billion in the first quarter, with Michael Kors down 14.2 percent to $675 million, and overall operating losses of $8 million.
Companies usually go to pains to emphasize their strength, but eight days of court testimony repeatedly illustrated just how much the Michael Kors brand was struggling.
Cedric Wilmotte, chief executive officer of Michael Kors, testified that the brand’s turnaround efforts that would elevate design, unify the brand voice and right-size distribution were off track.
“I believe Tapestry is better equipped to take us through the transition,” Wilmotte said.
And John Idol, Capri’s chairman and CEO, said that while one-in-seven women would be carrying a Michael Kors bag when he left his Manhattan office during the brand’s 2016 peak, the number was maybe “one in 200” today, “if we’re lucky.”
“We’ve worked very hard to get the brand heat back into Michael Kors,” Idol said, acknowledging success has been elusive.
