Former CEO says plan to rescue British furniture retailer Made.com fails

(Reuters) -Made.com’s co-founder and former chief executive Ning Li said his proposal to save the British online furniture retailer has been rejected, making the way for its collapse.

The news comes almost a week after the company said it would appoint administrators after running out of cash, becoming one of the most high profile British retailers to fail this year partly as a result of a squeeze on household budgets.

Ning, in a letter on his LinkedIn page, said he submitted his final bid to buy the company back which included a proposal to keep at least 100 jobs, keeping its offices open, and “honouring” all the orders of undelivered customers, which was later rejected.

“Apparently, it would be preferable to break the company up and sell it in pieces to generate a little more cash,” Ning added.

Made.com, which floated in June 2021 with a valuation of 775 million pounds, has been struggling with supply chain problems and consumers cutting back on discretionary spending in the face of rising mortgage rates and higher food and energy bills.

In Oct., the struggling company suspended taking customer orders after talks to find a buyer failed.

(Reporting by Amna Karimi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)