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Activist Jana takes stake in Macy’s, urges digital biz spin

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New York City’s Herald Square is filled with people wearing facemasks on Monday, January 8, 2021.

Angela Weiss | AFP | Getty Images

Jana Partners is an activist investor who has bought a portion of Indy. Macy’sCNBC was informed by a source that he wrote Wednesday to the chain’s board requesting it to disband its ecommerce business.

According to the person, Macy’s online company has attracted interest from companies that might invest in it.

Macy’s stock rose nearly 4% on Thursday after the first report appeared in the Wall Street JournalThis is. Year to date, the stock of this retailer has increased by over 107%.

Macy’s representatives declined to comment. CNBC reached Jana for comment but she didn’t respond immediately.

Jana spoke earlier in the month at a presentation. Macy’s online business could be worth about $14 billionThis is more than the $7 billion current market value of the department store. Jana suggested that the store be sold at the time, without mentioning the stake of the operator.

Macy’s told investors that in August it expects its ecommerce sales to reach $8.35 billion or $8.45 trillion this year, following nearly doubled revenues in the last four years.

This separation could be compared to one made by a high-end departmental store owner Saks Fifth Avenue, which earlier this year spilt off its digital business into a separate companySaks.com was acquired by. Saks.com received $2 billion in the deal, which is roughly twice its annual revenue.

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