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It Came From Carlos Place

Notes on the dreadful Matches bankruptcy, announced just three months after the Frasers Group acquisition, and what it means for the broader Matches–Farfetch–Net-a-Porter Axis of Incompetence.

mike ashley
If Frasers, which spent the last three months attempting to right the Matches books, gave up so quickly, who would bother in their stead? Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images
Lauren Sherman
March 11, 2024

On Thursday night, the Frasers Group announced that Matches, the luxury retailer it bought just three months ago for a measly £52 million, would enter administration, the British equivalent of bankruptcy protection. The headlines mostly posited that Frasers, owned by skeevy British entrepreneur Mike Ashley, was “shutting” Matches down. That’s not true. Not yet, at least. The release explained that Matches, which includes a website and three stores, would continue to operate while Frasers looked for a buyer. (WWD suggested Next, another High Street group.) Exactly 273 employees are set to be laid off so that trade can continue. (Strategic comms firm Teneo is involved.)