The company’s brand, domain names and intellectual property were immediately purchased by fashion and home goods retailer Next. It completes a reversal of fortunes for London-based Made.com, which was valued at nearly £800m when it went public in June 2021 and was heralded as the future of furniture retail. Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) will review the company’s remaining assets and said creditors will be paid according to legal priority. The Guardian understands that Next has offered £3.4m to buy the brand, but has not taken over the company’s employees or any of its furniture, lighting and homeware stock. Susanne Given, chairman of Made.com, said in a statement: “Having carried out an extensive process to secure the future of the business, we are deeply disappointed to have reached this point and how it will affect all of our stakeholders, including employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders.” He added that he was deeply sorry “for the disappointment” caused by Made.com’s fall into administration and thanked the company’s employees, customers and suppliers for their support. The outlook for Made.com was bleak for some time before its collapse. Like many other online retailers, its sales boomed during the coronavirus pandemic, when stranded consumers spent money to fix up their homes. However, these disappeared when the Covid restrictions ended and customers began to complain of long waits and late deliveries of the plush sofas and custom-made rattan furniture. Made.com warned of job cuts in July as the economic outlook worsened as increasingly cash-strapped consumers cut back on spending, particularly on “big-ticket” items. The retailer launched a last-minute hunt for a buyer, but was forced to call off the search when it failed to find anyone willing to take over the entire company. Subscribe to Business Today Get ready for the business day – we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Made.com was created in 2010 by Ning Li and Brent Hoberman, who co-founded Lastminute.com with Julien Callède and Chloe Macintosh. Li said in 2017 that Made.com wanted to be the new Ikea, “the pioneer of the next trend in how people shop for their home.” Lee said shortly before the company’s collapse that he had made three proposals to Made.com’s board and PwC to buy the company. He claimed his offer had been rejected, writing in a statement on LinkedIn: “Obviously, it would be better to break up the company and sell it in pieces to generate a little more cash. It makes no sense to me. But I wanted you to know that I really tried.” Administrators are required by law to choose an offer for a company in bankruptcy that will raise the most for its creditors.
