Key members of the Nordstrom family, including top company executives Blake, Peter and Erik Nordstrom, are considering taking the namesake department-store chain private, CNBC reported Thursday.
The company first went public in 1971 and was listed on the Nasdaq exchange until 1999, when the company re-listed on New York Stock Exchange under the symbol JWN.
While there is no formal proposal yet on the table, representatives of the family disclosed their interest in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, CNBC said.
Nordstrom, which has five full-service stores in the Washington area — plus an additional 11 Nordstrom Rack locations — tends to cater to a wealthier clientele than other competitors and has weathered troubling times for the department-store industry, albeit not without worries of its own.
“The department store’s annual sales have increased each of the past nine years, though profits tumbled 41% last year,” CNNMoney.com noted Thursday.
News of the announcement has sent the stock up on the day, at one point more than 20 percent off Thursday morning’s open, CNBC reported. As of this publishing, it is up a more modest 11.36 percent.
• Ken Shepherd can be reached at kshepherd@washingtontimes.com.
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