Century-old department store Nordstrom has agreed to be acquired and taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal with the industry being squeezed by discount chains and other competition.

Nordstrom shareholders will receive $24.25 in cash for each share of Nordstrom common stock, or about $4 billion in all, representing a 42% premium on the company’s stock as of March 18, when reports of a potential transaction was reported by the media.

The acquiring group will also pick up more than $2 billion in Nordstrom debt.

The traditional department stores have suffered in the face of withering competition from giants like Walmart and Target, as well as a host of fast-fashion bands and Amazon.com. Nordstrom rivals Macy’s and Kohl’s have been pressured by major investors to make huge changes in order to return more profit to shareholders.

Sales at Nordstrom have essentially flatlined over the past decade or so and it announced last year that it was closing all of its Canadian stores and cutting 2,500 jobs as it winds down operations in that country. Nordstrom first announced plans to expand to Canada in 2012 and opened its first store in Calgary at CF Chinook Centre in September 2014.

The offer announced Monday tops the previous $23-per-share bid that the Nordstrom family and Mexican retail group, El Puerto de Liverpool, made in September.

The board also plans to authorize a special dividend of up to 25 cents per share, based on Nordstrom’s cash on hand immediately prior to and contingent on the close of the transaction.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2025, at which time the company’s shares will no longer trade publicly.

Nordstrom’s board of directors unanimously approved the proposed transaction, with members Erik and Pete Nordstrom, part of the Nordstrom family taking over the company — recusing themselves from that vote.

Following the close of the transaction, the Nordstrom family will have a majority ownership stake in the company.

Erik and Pete Nordstrom are the fourth-generation leadership at the Seattle retailer, which was founded in 1901 as a shoe store. Erik is the company’s chief executive and Peter is president.

After opening 23 new stores so far this year, the company now operates a combined 381 Nordstrom and Nordstrom Rack stores in the U.S.

Nordstrom shares fell about 1.5% Monday, but they are up 34% this year on rumors of a family takeover. The company’s stock is still down considerably from post-pandemic highs above $40 per share.

In May of this year, Bruce Nordstrom, a retail executive who helped expand his family’s Pacific Northwest department store chain into an upscale national brand, died at age 90. He was one of several Nordstrom family members who in 2017 made a push to take the company private, proposing to buy out the 70% of the department store’s stock they didn’t already own. Those talks failed in 2018 but earlier this year, his sons started another series of buyout negotiations, leading to Monday’s announcement.

— Associated Press

Container Store chain files for bankruptcy

The Container Store has filed for bankruptcy protection as the storage and organizational goods retailer with roots dating back to the 1970s grapples with mounting losses and cash flow shortages.

Under Chapter 11 protection, The Container Store will continue to operate while it restructures.

The filing arrives two weeks after the trading of company shares was suspended by the New York Stock Exchange.

The Container Store Group Inc. failed to maintain an average market capitalization of at least $15 million in accordance with NYSE rules.

Starbucks strike expands for holidays

A five-day strike by Starbucks baristas had closed 59 stores as of Monday afternoon, according to the union organizing the workers.

The strike, which began Friday in Los Angeles, Chicago and Starbucks’ hometown of Seattle, spread Monday to stores in Boston, Dallas and Portland, Ore. Workers in New York, Denver, Pittsburgh and other cities had also joined the strike over the weekend.

On Tuesday, pickets are expected at a store in St. Anthony, Minn., according to a union press release.

Workers are protesting a lack of progress in contract negotiation with the company. Starbucks Workers United, which began the unionization effort in 2021, said Starbucks has failed to honor a commitment made in February to reach a labor agreement this year.

“We respect our partners’ right to engage in lawful strike activity, and we appreciate the thousands of partners across the country who are continuing to support each other and deliver the Starbucks experience for our customers,” the company said Monday in a statement.

Consumer confidence index down this month

American consumers are feeling less confident in December, a business research group says.

The Conference Board said Monday that its consumer confidence index fell back in December to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Analysts forecast a rise to a reading of 113.8.

Consumers had been feeling increasingly confident in recent months, spending more in the run-up to the all-important holiday shopping season.

The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months.

The measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market tumbled more than a dozen points to 81.1. The Conference Board says a reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future.

Feds sue Walmart over driver bank accounts

Walmart Inc. and one of its financial technology partners allegedly opened expensive bank accounts for delivery drivers without their consent, a U.S. consumer protection agency said on Monday.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claimed that Walmart and Branch Messenger Inc. required the delivery drivers to be paid through costly accounts. The agency sued the two companies in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, according to a statement.

“Walmart made false promises, illegally opened accounts, and took advantage of more than a million delivery drivers,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said.

Neither Walmart nor Branch Messenger immediately responded to a request for comment.

Unclaimed IRS COVID tax credits coming

About 1 million taxpayers who were eligible for a pandemic-era tax credit in 2021 but did not claim it can expect a lump sum from the IRS in the coming weeks.

The IRS announced Friday that it would start sending automatic payments of up to $1,400 to those who qualified for the 2021 Recovery Rebate Credit but did not properly claim it on their tax return.

The agency estimates it will send about $2.4 billion out to taxpayers by the end of January.

Danny Werfel, the IRS commissioner, said the payments came after the agency reviewed its internal data and noticed that about 1 million taxpayers overlooked the “complex credit” when filing in 2021. He said in a statement that taxpayers would not be required to amend their filings and would receive their payments automatically.

— From news services