Victoria’s Secret & Co. is poaching the top executive from Rihanna’s lingerie brand to lead the retailer’s turnaround.

Hillary Super, 52, will replace Martin Waters, who was terminated as CEO and resigned from the board, as chief executive officer and a member of the board, the company said in a statement. Tim Johnson, the chain’s chief financial and administrative officer, will be the interim CEO until Super joins the company on Sept. 9.

Shares in the company jumped 15 percent on the news in premarket trading. The shares were down 28 percent so far this year as of Tuesday’s close, compared to a 2 percent rise in the S&P Small Cap 600 Index.

Victoria’s Secret has been struggling for years, dogged by waning demand, increased competition from upstart lingerie brands such as singer Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty and allegations of workplace misconduct. In March, the company’s shares plunged after its annual sales guidance trailed expectations.

Super will be Victoria’s Secret third leader in four years — and its second CEO since it was spun out of L Brands — and brings nearly three decades of experience in retail. She led the Anthropologie apparel chain — Urban Outfitters’ biggest brand — for four years before becoming CEO of Savage X Fenty in June of last year, according to her LinkedIn page. The company said Super will get a $1.2 million base salary and a $1 million signing bonus, as well as additional annual incentive compensation of up to $2.1 million and other equity awards.

“We are particularly impressed with her merchant leadership capabilities,” Donna James, chair of the retailer’s board, said in the statement. And she has “an intuitive understanding of the consumer landscape.”

Waters, 58, became the CEO of Victoria’s Secret in February 2021 when it was part of L Brands. The unit then got spun out into its own public company in August 2021.

It hasn’t been a good ride for investors: The stock is down more than half since its debut.

The company also announced preliminary results for the second quarter, which ended Aug. 3. The retailer expects sales to be down as much as 2 percent, compared to previous guidance for a decline of as much as 3 percent. Adjusted diluted earnings per share are also expected to be higher than anticipated.

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Gina Raimondo, the Biden administration’s secretary of commerce and a favourite of some Wall Street titans, will help Vice President Kamala Harris raise funds over the Labor Day weekend.

The one-time venture capitalist and former Rhode Island governor will be the featured guest at an event for the Democratic presidential nominee on Aug. 31 in Southampton, according to an invitation seen by Bloomberg.

McKinsey & Co. senior partner Liz Hilton Segel is a host along with designer Tory Burch, Conde Nast’s Anna Wintour, and Aurora James, founder of the 15 Percent Pledge, which calls on retailers to give shelf space to Black-owned businesses. James is also the designer of her own accessories brand, Brother Vellies, and created the “Tax the Rich” dress that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore to the 2021 Met Gala.

Those listed on the invitation didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tickets for the Harris Victory Fund event start at $2,500 and go to $50,000 for an event chair.

Separately, Harris’ pick as a running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, will be at a fundraiser in Southampton on Aug. 15 with Mumford & Sons scheduled to perform, according to an invitation seen by Bloomberg. The hosts include Jen Rubio, the chief executive officer of luggage maker Away, her husband Stewart Butterfield, co-founder of Slack Technologies Inc., and Lauren Santo Domingo, co-founder of online fashion retailer Moda Operandi. Ticket prices range from $6,600 to $150,000.

Walz has five fundraisers this week, starting in Newport Beach, California, on Tuesday, followed by stops in Denver and Boston on Wednesday, then Newport, Rhode Island, and Southampton, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign said.

The Democratic ticket raised $36 million in the 24 hours after Walz’s announcement as running mate, a campaign official said in a statement, while Harris recently picked up $13 million at a fundraiser in San Francisco.

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Shein has enlisted a former top European Union official to bolster its lobbying efforts across the region, taking a more active stance toward potential regulatory scrutiny as it plans a stock market debut in London.

The online fashion retailer hired former EU budget commissioner Günther Oettinger as a consultant to help it navigate the bloc’s policy environment, a company representative told Bloomberg News. Shein faces a raft of issues including a debate whether to impose customs duties on cheap parcels — a potential game-changer for Shein and other low-cost online retailers like PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu.

The European Commission has kept the ultra-fast-fashion industry in its sights since about 2021, when President Ursula von der Leyen denounced it as “poison” due to the environmental impact of cheap, disposable clothes. That hasn’t prevented Shein from a major European expansion, and it’s preparing an initial public offering that could value the company at about £50 billion ($64 billion).

The EU is moving forward with plans to scrap a loophole that excludes items valued at below €150 ($164) from import duties as local retailers face growing competition from cheap Chinese goods shipped to the bloc.

Oettinger, who is a senior member of Germany’s conservative CDU party and sits on the advisory board of consultancy Kekst CNC, has faced criticism in the past for disparaging remarks about Chinese people. In 2016, he apologised for using comments that created “bad feelings” in a speech to business leaders.

Prior to joining the private sector, he held several senior roles in the EU between 2010 to 2019, including European Commissioner for energy, for digital economy and society, and finally for budget and human resources.

Kekst CNC declined to make him available for comment. Spokespeople for German business school EBS Universität, where Oettinger is president, and the CDU in his home region did not respond to a request for comment.

Shein paid consultancy group Kekst CNC as much as €199,999 last year, according to the European Union Transparency Register.

Founded in China and now headquartered in Singapore, Shein has become one of the world’s most valuable startups thanks to its model of high-volume, ultra-cheap fashion. Its phenomenal success has drawn competition from the likes of ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Temu, but also spurred criticism from multiple corners.

Shein is now grappling with EU rules designed to clamp down on illegal and harmful content online, aimed at stopping the spread of counterfeit items on the platform, Bloomberg News reported in April.

In 2022 Bloomberg reported some Shein garments were made with cotton from China’s Xinjiang region that the US has banned due to its links to forced labour. The company has pledged to improve its record.

After Shein joined the British Retail Consortium, the BRC’s head Helen Dickinson told Reuters the company committed to engage on issues including sustainability and ethical labor policies.

Shein spent about $2.5 million on lobbying in the US and the EU last year, and has pledged $70 million over the next five years to improve its supply chain. There is no record of rival Temu spending in the EU transparency register, and European Commission regulators have told Bloomberg News they liaise with Temu’s representatives directly.

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Shein Is on a Pre-IPO Charm Offensive

The controversial e-commerce giant is pledging €250 million to British and European designers and circularity initiatives as it seeks to manage regulation that takes aim at fast fashion and drum up support for a possible London listing.

Trove, the resale operator for brands including Patagonia and Levi’s, has acquired Recurate, another branded resale platform, the companies announced Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As secondhand fashion booms, hundreds of brands have launched their own resale channels in recent years. Trove and Recurate are two different options for facilitating resale on behalf of retailers.

Trove specialises in a fully managed model of resale, operating the entire journey of secondhand commerce on behalf of its brand clients, from soliciting and processing pre-owned goods from sellers to building the resale website and fulfilling the goods sold to buyers.

Unlike Trove, Recurate offers brands a peer-to-peer resale model that doesn’t require inventory management or photographing hundreds, if not, thousands of pre-owned pieces as in unique listings. Instead, sellers are responsible for creating their own listings and shipping their products to buyers. This model allows for an easier integration of resale into an existing e-commerce platform and for faster scaling.

Recurate powers resale for brands such as Steve Madden, Michael Kors and Frye, which now become part of Trove’s roster of clients, including Eileen Fisher, On and Canada Goose. The addition of Recurate’s 29 brand clients means Trove will now generate 75 percent of total online branded resale traffic, the company said in a statement Tuesday. With Recurate’s technology, Trove can now launch and scale new resale programmes in as little as four weeks.

“This strategic acquisition strengthens our ability to provide brands with the tools they need to excel in the circular economy, offering greater flexibility and faster go-to-market solutions,” said Terry Boyle, who was named Trove’s chief executive in May.

Looking ahead, Trove is eyeing international expansion though upcoming partnerships in Europe.

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Sea Ltd. raised the outlook for its main online retailing arm, signalling the Southeast Asia e-commerce leader is effectively encountering intense competition from the likes of TikTok and Lazada.

The value of goods sold by the Shopee division will rise in the “mid-20 percent” range this year, Sea said Tuesday, rather than the “high teens” pace predicted in March. Singapore-based Sea also posted second-quarter profit and sales that topped analysts’ estimates.

The forecast alleviates some concerns about the prospects for Shopee, which is trying to fend off competition from ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Lazada. Investors are watching closely if Shopee’s higher merchant fees can boost its margins without hurting its lead against the deep-pocketed tech conglomerates. Newer contenders like Shein and PDD Holdings Inc.’s Temu are also targeting Southeast Asia, a region of about 675 million people where more shoppers are moving online.

In a show of its dominance, Shopee has raised the commissions it charges merchants in many core markets by about a third since the start of the year. The hikes, which bring Shopee’s fees far above its rivals, show that Sea feels secure in its own efforts to become a crucial partner to merchants, helped by the e-commerce pioneer’s broad user base and well established delivery services.

Shares of Sea fell less than 1 percent in trading before US markets opened, as stock futures more broadly pared gains before fresh US consumer price data. After plunging in the past two years, Sea shares have advanced about 65% in 2024 as investors have assessed its chances against the tough competition. They remain far below their historic highs though.

Sea swung back into the black in the three months through June with a net income of about $80 million, after losses in the preceding three quarters. Analysts estimated $60 million on average. Sales rose 23 percent to $3.8 billion.

Shopee’s gross merchandise volume, or the value of goods sold, climbed a higher-than-estimated 29 percent to $23.3 billion in the second quarter. Sea also said it expects Shopee to post earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation in the third quarter of this year — it previously expected Shopee to reach that milestone within the second half. The company as a whole is targeting its second straight annual profit this year.

Investors have also focused on Sea’s efforts to improve its profitability in the cut-throat market, after it slashed thousands of jobs in a brutal cost-cutting drive in recent years. Second-quarter sales and marketing expense rose to $774.8 million, and the company has also boosted research and development spending to add live-streaming and artificial intelligence features.

The company’s gaming arm Garena, known for its hit Free Fire, has helped Sea’s profit margins. Yet it has struggled to come up with new titles to increase sales. Revenue at the unit fell 18 percent to $435.6 million, missing estimates. Bookings, which measure the amount of products and services sold during the period, climbed 21 percent to $536.8 million.

Sea’s digital banking division has become one of its key pillars of expansion. Revenue at its financial services arm grew 21 percent, as it battles the region’s incumbents as well as new entrants including Standard Chartered Plc’s Trust Bank and a venture owned by Grab Holdings Ltd. and Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. called GXS Bank. Last month, it appointed a new chief to steer its budding Singapore bank.

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Sea E-Commerce Unit Shopee to Shut India Operations

E-commerce and gaming firm Sea Ltd said on Monday it is withdrawing from India’s retail market just months after starting operations there, the second pullback this month in an overseas expansion drive, as the loss-making firm faces a weak growth outlook.