Beyond Sells Zulily to Lyons Trading Company for $5 Million

Beyond Inc., which owns Bed Bath & Beyond, bought the defunct retail site Zulily about a year ago for $4.5 million. After bringing life back to the online retailer, Beyond has just sold its majority stake in the brand to Lyons Trading Company for $5 million.

The sale is part of Beyond’s shift of focus toward its core brands, namely Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock.com, and the recently acquired BuyBuy Baby. Yet, Beyond still owns 25% of Zulily.

“This sale reflects our commitment to resource optimization, our mandate to delivering profits for our home and family-centric brands, and a focus on our largest growth opportunities as a company,” said Beyond COO Alex Thomas, per Retail TouchPoints.

What Lyons plans to do with Zulily is yet undetermined. Lyons also owns discount fashion retailer Proozy. As of now, the brand’s website tells visitors to sign up for notifications of the brand relaunch and go to Proozy for the latest deals.

Buying and Selling of Zulily

Founded by Mark Vadon and Darrell Cavens, Zulily launched in 2010, specializing in quick, short-term deals on clothes, toys, and home goods. Its flash sales were the main draw, offering deep discounts on products for a limited time, usually 72 hours.

Zulily went public in 2013. At the time, the brand was generating over $330 million in revenue and had 2.6 million active customers.

In 2015, Zulily was bought for $2.6 billion by TV shopping pioneer QVC. The brand continued to grow and prosper under QVC. However, increased competition from big players like Amazon, operational difficulties, and poor customer retention pushed it toward financial disaster.

Sensing a bargain, Beyond acquired the company’s website, trademarks, tradenames, and customer base in 2024. With Overstock already under its belt, Beyond likely thought Zulily would be a perfect fit in its portfolio.

Now, it’s clear that Beyond does not want to dedicate any resources to Zulily. Instead, it will direct the $500,000 profit earned from selling its 75% stake in the brand toward other companies in its fold.

According to Proozy’s CEO Jeremy Segal, Zulily has a better chance of success now that it is no longer a part of Beyond. The retailer will benefit from Proozy’s past success and expertise in managing a fashion supply chain, which Beyond likely does not have. For now, however, loyal customers will need to wait for the relaunch of the site, which is likely still months away.