Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs
(GeekWire File Photo / Taylor Soper)
Zulily is getting a new owner for the third time in two years.
Beyond, the publicly traded company that owns Bed Bath & Beyond and Overstock, announced last week that it plans to sell a majority stake in Zulily to Lyons Trading Company, the parent company of flash sales site Proozy.com.
Lyons is paying $5 million for a 75% stake in Zulily. Beyond will retain a 25% stake.
Minnesota-based Proozy plans to keep operating Zulily under its brand name, with a relaunch planned in the coming months, according to the company’s CEO Jeremy Segal.
It’s the latest chapter in what’s become a winding journey for Zulily, a one-time darling of Seattle’s tech scene that was valued at $4 billion following its IPO in 2013 but had a sudden shutdown a decade later.
QVC parent Qurate, which paid $2.4 billion to buy Zulily in 2015, sold the company to a Los Angeles investment firm Regent in May 2023.
Regent said it planned to grow the retailer in new markets but instead laid off more than 800 employees across three states and put Zulily in liquidation.
Beyond, led by Marcus Lemonis, star of CNBC’s reality TV show “The Profit,” emerged as the surprise buyer of Zulily last year, paying $4.5 million in cash to buy Zulily’s website, domain names, trademarks, customer database, social media accounts, and software.
Zulily reportedly generated $666 million in sales in 2023, even as the company laid off most of its workforce and went through a liquidation process as part of a surprising downfall.
Beyond relaunched the site late last year.
Lemonis told GeekWire in March 2024 that he wanted to spark some of the secret sauce that helped Zulily blossom in its early days as a flash sales leader that focused on women and moms.
“The rise and fall of Zulily is not a function of the people that work there,” Lemonis said last year. “It’s a function of the people that own it and passing it around like it’s a hot potato.”
A message on Proozy’s site reads: “In the coming months we will be working tirelessly to restore the Zulily website to its former glory. Expect great brands, excellent deals, and a tremendous shopping experience!”
Zulily has an ongoing lawsuit against Amazon alleging price-fixing and supplier coercion. The suit, filed in December, 2023 is based in part on allegations in the Federal Trade Commission’s separate antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.
Previously: Zulily’s downfall: How the high-flying online retailer soared, sank, and shut down
