People shopping at Nordstrom at the King of Prussia Mall in King of Prussia on December 11, 2022 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
Mark Makela | Getty Images
shares of nordstrom Friday morning came after news of activist investor and meme stock maven Ryan Cohen buying a stake in the high-end department store company.
The stock was up nearly 30% in premarket trading.
wall street journalReuters, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Thursday evening that Cohen was in the process of acquiring a “major stake” in Nordstrom while seeking to shake up its board. The Journal said Cohen is now one of Nordstrom’s top five non-family shareholders.
Nordstrom, for its part, said it was open to hearing from Cohen.
“While Mr. Cohen has not had any discussions with us in several years, we stand ready to listen to his views, as we do with all Nordstrom shareholders,” the company said in a statement. “We will continue to take actions that we believe are in the best interests of the company and our shareholders.”
The news about Cohen comes just weeks after Nordstrom, which has had to dramatically reduce prices to ease an inventory glut weak holiday sales And slashed its guidance for the year. The company is set to report earnings on March 2.
Cohen, who founded Pet Retail & Health site chewer, considered the champion of the meme stock crowd. He’s the chairman of reddit favorites Gamestop, he also triggered a brief rally in bed Bath and Beyond Last year before it finally went out of stock. bed bath is expected file for bankruptcy protection any day now.
Cohen appears to be taking aim at ex Mark Tritton once again Target executive who was ousted as Bed Bath CEO last year as Cohen’s firm pressured the struggling home goods retailer. Triton has been on Nordstrom’s board for nearly three years, having previously worked for the company from 2009 to 2016.
According to the Journal, Cohen thinks Triton should not make decisions on compensation for Nordstrom family members, who are also executives of the retailer, because of their prior experience working at the company. Erik Nordstrom is the CEO of the company, while Peter Nordstrom is its chairman.
–CNBC’s Kerry Coffield contributed to this report.