A group of lenders is poised to purchase Tupperware Brands, which would allow the Kissimmee, Florida-based company to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and halt a planned sale of assets.
Tupperware filed for bankruptcy last month, amid growing struggles to revitalize its brand. At the time, it reported more than $1.2 billion in total debts and $679.5 million in total assets, according to the bankruptcy petition.
Tupperware and its plastic food storage containers experienced explosive growth in post-war America. That success was largely due to the introduction of Tupperware parties — social gatherings where individual consultants, most of them women, sold the products out of their homes.
“In recent years, however, the historical strengths of a widespread direct selling model began to turn into weaknesses,” wrote Brian Fox, the company’s chief restructuring officer, in its bankruptcy filing.
The company only started selling its products in Target stores in 2022, the same year it created an online Amazon store. It started selling at Macy’s earlier this year.
Under the pending sale, which a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved, Tupperware will receive $23.5 million in cash and $63.5 million in debt relief. In exchange, the lending group poised to purchase it will receive Tupperware’s intellectual property to “create and market Tupperware’s brand” in the future.
The group set to buy Tupperware includes Alden Global Capital — the owner of the Southern California News Group’s parent company, Tribune Publishing — and Stonehill Capital Management Partners.
Tupperware this year employed more than 5,450 people in 41 countries.
Starbucks discontinues olive oil drinks
Starbucks is discontinuing its Oleato olive-oil infused beverages at most locations, part of an effort to streamline the chain’s menu.
The Seattle-based company confirmed the change Wednesday ahead of the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. Later Wednesday, Starbucks’ new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol was scheduled to hold his first conference call with investors since he joined the company last month.
Starbucks said it will no longer offer Oleato drinks beginning in early November at most stores. They will be available at some locations in Italy, Japan and China.
The decision breaks a link to Starbucks’ longtime leader Howard Schultz, who came up with the idea for the drinks after visiting an olive oil producer in Sicily.
Roaring Kitty investor sells Chewy stake
Shares of Chewy slid close to 2% in overnight trading Wednesday after a regulatory filing revealed that the meme stock trader known as Roaring Kitty had sold his stake in the online pet store.
A beneficial ownership filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission posted Tuesday showed that Roaring Kitty, whose legal name is Keith Gill, had sold all of his shares in Chewy, which amounted to a 6.6% stake.
Gill, an investor at the center of the meme stock craze, acquired more than 9 million shares of Chewy in July that made him the company’s third-biggest shareholder.
Compiled from Associated Press and Orlando Sentinel reports.