Furniture Brands International
Interco became Furniture Brands International on March 1, 1996.[12] That same year, Mickey Holliman of the Action Industries subsidiary succeeded Loynd as president. Holliman had made his company into the leader in the motion furniture segment. His strategy of focusing on furniture proved successful, and by 1999 Furniture Brands International had fifteen straight quarters of increased earnings. Thomasville Furniture, the third manufacturer, and a deal with retailer Haverty's to devote significant space to Furniture Brands, contributed to the company's positive outlook.[2]
Late in 2001, Masco announced Furniture Brands International would buy Henredon, Drexel Heritage and Maitland-Smith for $275 million, in a deal expected to return Furniture Brands to the number one U.S. furniture manufacturer, a title lost to La-Z-Boy when that company bought LADD in 2000.[13] The three companies, which gave Furniture Brands a top position in premium furniture,[14] became the High Point, North Carolina–based subsidiary HDM Furniture Industries, Inc. in 2005. Drexel Heritage CEO Jeff Young became the CEO. Also that year, HDM announced plans to move upholstery manufacturing in High Point to the Drexel Heritage location, closing the Henredon plant and moving some operations to Mount Airy, North Carolina.[15][16]
Despite a decline in the industry as a whole, Furniture Brands continued to be successful and expanded into retail.[2] In 2007, Furniture Brands announced that Thomasville and Drexel Heritage would increase the number of company-owned stores for their products, but that Broyhill and Lane would close their St. Louis-area stores and focus on selling through furniture stores that sold other brands. At the time, the Designer Brands group included Henredon, Hickory Chair, Laneventure, Maitland-Smith, and Pearson.[17]
In 2008, intending to focus on homes rather than businesses, Furniture Brands announced the sale of Hickory Business Furniture to HNI Corporation for $75 million.[18] Also that year, Henredon moved its headquarters to one of its High Point plants that year, and Drexel Heritage moved in with Thomasville Furniture.[19] And with Henredon's 15-year contract to manufacture Ralph Lauren furniture ending, the company dropped the position of Henredon Furniture president, with the Designer Group president taking over that role. This was part of a companywide strategy to consolidate back office departments in what had been separate companies.[20]
Also in 2008, the Drexel Heritage/Henredon plant in High Point closed. This left the company with two High Point plants, and one each in Thomasville and Mt. Airy. This brought the total number of N.C. jobs cut by Furniture Brands to 8726, 2740 of those in the Triad, since 2000, during which time the company had also closed 39 of 57 U.S. plants.[21]
On July 10, 2008, Furniture Brands said it would move its headquarters to Clayton, Missouri. The number of employees at the new site would increase from about 75 to about 225. At the same time, the company was changing from a holding company to an operating company; certain departments would move from the company's divisions to headquarters, but any job related to a specific brand would remain at the appropriate division. State and county incentives worth $4 million played a role in the decision.[22][23] The company completed its 52,000 sqft headquarters in two stories of 14-story Shaw Park Plaza in October.[24][25]
In 2009, Thomasville, Drexel Heritage, Henredon, and Maitland-Smith made their debut at the Las Vegas Furniture Market, where Broyhill and Lane had been exhibiting since 2005.[26]
For the 2009 High Point Market, Maitland-Smith moved its showroom into that of Henredon and moved its outlet from Tomlinson Road to its Penny Road office.[27]
Furniture Brands' market capitalization (or total value of its shares) fell from $1.8 billion in 2004 to $31 million in 2013. The company has lost money every year since 2007 and was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange twice in less than a year. Analyst Budd Bugatch of Raymond James & Associates compared Furniture Brands board members to the pigs in George Orwell's Animal Farm.[28]
On September 9, 2013, Furniture Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company planned to sell all businesses other than Lane Furniture to a group managed by Oaktree Capital Management LP.[29] On October 2, a judge approved a $280 million stalking horse offer by KPS Capital Partners. On November 4, Samson Holding Ltd., the largest stockholder, announced its intention to bid[30] but that bid never took place, and on November 22, a judge approved the KPS bid. KPS announced the name Heritage Home Group LLC for the new owner of "substantially all of the assets" of Furniture Brands on November 25. Also announced at that time was the resignation of Furniture Brands chairman and CEO Ralph Scozzafava. Ira Glazer became Heritage president and CEO.[31][32][33]
Furniture Brands International became FBI Wind Down Inc., and chief administrative officer and general counsel Meredith Graham was put in charge of liquidation.[34] Heritage Home Group was considered a subsidiary of FBI Wind Down.[35] FBI Wind Down cancelled its stock effective August 1, 2014[36] but continued to dispose of former Furniture Brands properties.[37]
FBI Wind Down sold four more Furniture Brands properties to 21 BC LLC in 2015. In High Point, sites on Fairfield Road and Copeland Avenue were included. Thomasville and Morganton locations were also sold.[38]
