400 Made staff axed in £3.4m Next rescue

NEXT has bought collapsed Made. com out of administration for £3.4m – but some 400 staff still lost their jobs.

The high street giant yesterday snapped up the online furniture retailer in a so-called pre-pack administration.

The approach by Next was first revealed by the Mail on Saturday.

The deal – a little over a year after Made was valued at £775m when it joined the stock market in London – saves a much-loved British brand set up in 2010 by Ning Li, Brent Hoberman, Chloe Macintosh, and Julien Callede. It will now be run by Next boss Lord Simon Wolfson, one of the UK’s most successful retailers.

But Next only bought Made’s brand, website, intellectual property and customer database. It means just 74 staff will stay on to help administrators wind down the business, including selling off its huge leftover stockpile.

AJ Bell’s Russ Mould said: ‘Next has the scale, experience and retail savvy... suggesting it can turn Made.com into a successful and lucrative brand.’