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Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSLO) is an American diversified media and merchandising company founded by Martha Stewart in 1997 and owned by Marquee Brands LLC since April 2019. It is organized into four business segments: publishing, Internet, broadcasting media platforms, and merchandising product lines. MSLO's business holdings include a variety of print publications, television and radio programming, and e-commerce websites.
History
The company was founded in 1997 by Martha Stewart [1][2][4] as an umbrella company for the various media and merchandising ventures linked to the Martha Stewart brand. It went public, via an initial public offering, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on October 19, 1999. The stock opened at US$18 a share, but shot up to $38 a share, making Stewart an instant billionaire.[citation needed]
On August 6, 2002, a class-action lawsuit was filed against the company for misleading investors by issuing materially false and misleading statements, and its officers using insider information to avoid losses. A settlement of $30 million was approved in 2007.[6]
In 2004, the company previously recognized as expense its estimate of annual subscription-acquisition costs rateably throughout the year. After reviewing this matter with its independent certified public accounting firm and its audit committee, the company determined on October 26, 2004, to change the method of accounting for interim period expense recognition of its subscription acquisition costs. The company recognized subscription-acquisition costs in the period in which the acquisition efforts took place and restated the financial statements.[7]
On February 19, 2008, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse to purchase certain business assets for $50 million: $45 million in cash and $5 million in stock. With the exclusion of Lagasse’s restaurant chain and his foundation, the deal consisted of the rights to television programs such as Essence of Emeril and Emeril Live, Emeril Lagasse's Cookbook library, the emerils.com website, and kitchen and food products.[8]
Stewart had served as president, chairwoman and chief executive officer of the company until being forced to resign[when?] as a result of the 2001 ImClone insider trading case. As part of an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, she was banned from serving in any role that would allow her to prepare, audit or disclose financial results of a public company until August 2011.[9] In effect, this banned her from serving as an officer of her own company.
Stewart rejoined the board of directors of her namesake company in September 2011[10] and became its chairwoman once again in May 2012.[11]
In 2012, Macy's sued MSLO and J.C. Penney after the two companies decided, in 2011, to partner up and open up what would be called "Martha Stewart Home Shops". Macy's sued MSLO for "breach of contract" and sued J.C. Penney for "interfering with its agreement with Martha Stewart". Both of these lawsuits were combined in December 2013.[12] Macy's goal was to stop J.C. Penney from selling MSLO merchandise that was supposed to be sold exclusively at Macy's.[13] Macy's settled a portion of its lawsuit with MSLO over a home-products deal, however, Macy's continues to sue J.C. Penney.[14] MSLO did not disclose the terms of the settlement.[12] This lawsuit cost between "$7 million and $8 million in legal costs", according to MSLO's chief executive officer Daniel Dienst.[15]
In March 2017, MSLO partnered with Marley Spoon Inc. to have Martha & Marley Spoon meal kit service delivered by Amazon Fresh to customers in Dallas, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas.[18]
Four newspaper columns — Ask Martha, Living, Weddings and Everyday Food — are distributed to newspapers throughout the U.S. via The New York Times Syndicate.
Current books are published through Random House's Clarkson Potter division; earlier titles were offered through subsidiaries of Time Warner prior to Stewart's spin-off of her business ventures from its corporate umbrella.
Publishing activities are a major source of income for the company, and accounted for roughly 60% of total revenue in 2005.[citation needed]
Although MSLO retained no technical ownership stake in NBC's program The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, the company, its magazines, and various business ventures were prominently featured in each episode. Mark Burnett, who produced the series, is also co-producer of the company's daily talk show, Martha.
MSLO began marketing instructional DVDs in late 2005 through a partnership with Warner Bros., with the first five offerings oriented toward cooking and holiday and special-event planning.
The company's Internet and Direct Commerce segment includes its website marthastewart.com and a direct-to-consumerflower business, marthastewartflowers.com.
Through an agreement with Touchpoint, it designed a line of customizable greeting cards under the Marthascards banner, which were sourced and fulfilled by Touchpoint. This agreement was replaced by a new program with Kodak EasyShare Gallery in 2006.
In November 2006, MSLO announced its launch of Martha's Circle which is a lifestyle-oriented blog-advertising network[24] whose charter members included Apartment Therapy, Smitten Kitchen, and Charles & Hudson.
Historically, the company also produced a print and online catalog, Martha by Mail, which was launched in 1997 and later rebranded as Martha Stewart: The Catalog for Living. Following Stewart's public fallout and the dot-com bubble burst in 2002, the company decided to discontinue both the online and print editions in 2003. The final print catalog was mailed in January 2004, and the online store closed in June of that year.[citation needed]
MSLO additionally offers various home goods through its mass-market Martha Stewart Everyday brand in Kmart stores throughout the United States, and at Sears Canada in Canada. Furniture and paint are part of the company's specialty-retail-oriented Martha Stewart Signature brand through a partnership with Bernhardt Furniture Company and previously with Sherwin-Williams.
In October 2006, the company announced a new agreement with Lowe's to develop an exclusive interior paints line, which replaced its previous contract with Sherwin-Williams. The new line of paints, Martha Stewart Colors, launched in April 2007.
In April 2006, the company announced its plans to develop a new, upmarket merchandise line with Macy's, Inc. (at the time named Federated Department Stores) launched in Macy's stores in 2007.
The company also announced[when?] its intention to design a new paper-based crafts product line, Martha Stewart Crafts, with EK Success, initially planned for release in time for the Holiday
2006 season, which later debuted in early 2007 at Michael's stores.
In the fall of 2009, MSLO announced the development of a line of outdoor furniture, indoor organization, kitchen cabinets, and decor products at Home Depot.
On December 7, 2011, JCPenney announced the acquisition of 16.6 percent of the company's stock. JCPenney planned to put "mini-Martha Stewart shops" in many of its stores in 2013, as well as starting a web site together.[25]
