Hudson's Bay Company

For other uses, see Hudson's Bay (disambiguation).

Hudson's Bay Company
Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail
Founded2 May 1670; 354 years ago (2 May 1670)
London, England
Headquarters
Key people
Richard Baker
(governor, executive chairman and CEO)
RevenueIncrease CA$9.4 billion (2018)
Decrease CA$−631 million (2018)
OwnerNRDC Equity Partners (48%)
Number of employees
30,000 (2017)[2]
Divisions
Websitewww.hbc.com Edit this at Wikidata

The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; French: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, it became the largest and oldest corporation in Canada, before evolving into a major fashion retailer, operating retail stores across both the United States and Canada.[3][4] The company's namesake business division is Hudson's Bay, commonly referred to as The Bay (La Baie in French).[5]

After incorporation by English royal charter in 1670, the company was granted a right of "sole trade and commerce" over an expansive area of land known as Rupert's Land, comprising much of the Hudson Bay drainage basin.[6] This right effectively gave the company a commercial monopoly over that area. The HBC functioned as the de facto government in Rupert's Land for nearly 200 years until the HBC relinquished control of the land to Canada in 1869 as part of the Deed of Surrender,[6][7] authorized by the Rupert's Land Act 1868. At its peak, the company controlled the fur trade throughout much of the English- and later British-controlled North America. By the mid-19th century, the company evolved into a mercantile business selling a wide variety of products from furs to fine homeware in a small number of sales shops (as opposed to trading posts) across Canada.[8][9] These shops were the first step towards the department stores the company owns today.[10]

In 2006, Jerry Zucker, an American businessman, bought HBC for US$1.1 billion. In 2008, HBC was acquired by NRDC Equity Partners, which also owned the upmarket American department store Lord & Taylor.[11] From 2008 to 2012, the HBC was run through a holding company of NRDC, Hudson's Bay Trading Company, which was dissolved in early 2012.[12] HBC's U.S. headquarters are in Lower Manhattan, New York City,[1] while its Canadian headquarters are in Toronto.[1] The company spun off most of its European operations by August 2019 and its remaining stores there, in the Netherlands, were sold by the end of 2019.

Until March 2020, the company was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "HBC.TO" until Richard Baker and a group of shareholders took the company private.[13] HBC is, as of 2022, the majority owner of eCommerce companies Saks Fifth Avenue[14] and Saks Off 5th,[15] both established as separate operating companies in 2021.[15][16] HBC wholly owns SFA, the entity that operates Saks Fifth Avenue's physical locations;[17] O5, the operating company for Saks Off 5th stores;[18] The Bay, an eCommerce marketplace and Hudson's Bay, the operating company for Hudson's Bay's brick-and-mortar stores.[18][19] In July 2024, HBC announced that it would acquire the Neiman Marcus Group for US$2.65 billion and fold it into the new flagship entity Saks Fifth Avenue Global.[20]

HBC owns or controls approximately 3.7 million square metres (40 million square feet) of gross leasable real estate[21] through its real estate and investment arm, HBC Properties and Investments, established in October 2020.[22][23]

  1. ^ a b c "HBC Corporate Headquarters". Hudson’s Bay Company. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Our Company". Hudson's Bay Company. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. ^ "News releases – www.stockmanngroup.com". www.stockmanngroup.com. Archived from the original on 26 May 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  4. ^ Williams, Pat (24 October 2009). "Hudson's Bay Company". Canadiana Connection. Archived from the original on 28 February 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
  5. ^ Shaw, Hollie (6 March 2013). "The Bay gets a new logo for first time in almost 50 years". Financial Post. Retrieved 20 August 2013.
  6. ^ a b "The Royal Charter of the Hudson's Bay Company". HBC Heritage. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Our History: Overview". HBC Heritage. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference GT-DEX-2008-19 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hudson's Bay Trading Company dissolved was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Baker was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Bain, Marc (5 March 2021). "Saks is turning its back on department stores". Quartz.
  15. ^ a b Clark, Evan (21 June 2021). "Saks Off 5th Splits E-commerce and Retail". WWD.
  16. ^ Jackson, Adam (21 June 2021). "Saks Off 5th Will Become $1 Billion Standalone Online Business". Bloomberg.
  17. ^ Thomas, Lauren (5 March 2021). "Saks Fifth Avenue owner spins e-commerce site into separate business". CNBC.
  18. ^ a b Howland, Daphne (22 June 2021). "With $200M from private equity, Saks Off 5th online will go it alone". RetailDive.
  19. ^ "Hudson's Bay splitting stores from online marketplace to create two businesses". CTV News. 12 August 2021.
  20. ^ Alex Herring (4 July 2024). "Saks Fifth Avenue parent HBC to acquire Neiman Marcus Group in $2.65 billion deal". CNBC. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  21. ^ "HBC Introduces Development Division To Optimize Real Estate". PYMNTS.com. 21 October 2020.
  22. ^ Patterson, Craig (20 October 2020). "Hudson's Bay Company Announces Division to Redevelop Real Estate Assets". Retail Insider.
  23. ^ Chan, Kenneth (21 October 2020). "Hudson's Bay launches new real estate division to redevelop its stores". Daily Hive.