A famous Australian who few Aussies know is twisting the arm of the board of Victoria’s Secret, one of the world’s most provocatively well-known businesses, to give him a seat to turnaround its flagging fortunes.

Few people have seen Brett Blundy and I’ve never met him in real life, though I have written about him and specifically about his unforgettable businesses.
These huge names of retail include Sanity Entertainment, Bras N Things, Accent and his latest exploding brand and business, Lovisa. Blundy even invested in Adairs and took it to a public listing in 2019.

Now aged around 65 and residing in Monaco, this serial entrepreneur began his retail journey in 1980 with a Pakenham record store called Disco Duck that failed. Later, however, he formed BB Capital, and the rest is retail history.

Lovisa (5Y)

On latest count, Lovisa is up 346% over the past five years and has around 1,031 stores in Australia, the US, Canada, the UK and Europe. He also has seven Jewells stores, which is an upmarket jewellery outlet. In contrast, look at what has happened to Victoria’s Secret over the past five years, where the share price has fallen from $US1,490 to $657, which is more than halve its value on the stock market.

Victoria's Secret (5Y)

Blundy now owns 13% of Victoria’s Secret and reports say he could swallow up 50% of the company! Apart from his second biggest holding in the company, he argues the company has been mismanaged and the firm’s chair Donna James has to go.

The AFR’s Carrie LaFrenz reports that Blundy has described James as an “an ‘over-tenured’ director with a ‘stale perspective’ that lacks objectivity”.

That said, the share price has started a bit of a recovery, which coincides with the company focussing on it 80 million Instagram followers and the promotion of its PINK brand to a younger audience.

Blundy has had push-back from the board he seeks to join but has publicly admonished its decisions and has insisted he’s not a short-term activist purely trying to make money before exiting the business.

In September he presented to the board, demanding a seat and outlining what he thought needed to be done. Recently, the board criticised Blundy for a “lack of interest in a constructive approach”, following his presentation and his demands to wave goodbye to the company’s chair.

A board often resists giving a seat to a barbarian at the gate who wants to improve the board! And this barbarian is an Aussie that many Americans would find hard to understand and accept.

That said, they should understand his retail success, which clearly has evaded this mob of directors for at least five years!