Count Amazon as one more party that is feeling ripped off by Saks Global and its march into bankruptcy.
The web giant, which has been working to build in luxury for years, was once a key backer.
It invested $475 million into the retailer when it bought Neiman Marcus Group and signed a commercial agreement that promised it $900 million in fees over eight years for hosting the Saks shop on its platform.
But as 2025 wore on and Saks Global started to run into liquidity problems in the wake of the Neiman’s deal, things started to sour.
Saks Global pushed through a refinancing and a deal to bring in $600 million in more debt over the summer that Amazon never consented to.
And when the retailer came to bankruptcy court this week with $1.75 billion in debtor-in-possession financing, Amazon cried foul on the deal and sought to delay package, which would fund the retailer as it is in bankruptcy.
In court papers and during the company’s first-day hearing in federal bankruptcy court in Houston that ran late into the night, Amazon’s attorneys said that the DIP financing was secured in part by an entity holding the Saks Fifth Avenue store, even though the famed flagship was promised to secure its the web giant’s own interests.
At the hearing, Mark Weinsten, the retailer’s chief restructuring officer, said that he believed that the DIP financing and its collateral was appropriate and necessary, adding that the company has $30 million to $35 million in bills due on Thursday alone and would likely run out of money completely this week if the financing were not approved.
Amazon’s lawyers sent a letter to Saks Global on Jan. 9 asserting its rights, decrying the retailer for mismanagement and offering to provide a separate DIP lending package for the Saks Fifth Avenue HoldCo II, which sits atop the flagship in the corporate hierarchy.
Weinsten said he didn’t see the offer for a separate DIP in a letter shortly before a bankruptcy filing as fully fleshed out proposal.
Amazon said the DIP financing Amazon was contemplating “would violate Amazon’s consent rights under the LLC agreement and would inflict significant harm upon Amazon and other creditors at HoldCo II, for the sole purpose of advantaging other groups of creditors at other entities… Amazon does not consent to any financing that encumbers HoldCo II or Flagship.”
Amazon warned it could object to court approval of the financing.
“Moreover, Amazon reserves its rights to pursue all claims arising from the company’s and its management’s misconduct related to the LLC Agreement, in addition to claims arising from the board and management’s conduct in the last year that has led to the degradation of significant value and left the company in such a precarious financial position,” said the letter, which was filed with the court as part of the bankruptcy.
As of press time, Alfredo Perez, the federal bankruptcy court judge overseeing the case in Houston, had not approved or denied Saks Global’s financing proposal.
