Farfetch is an e-commerce company focused on luxury fashion and beauty products. It operates as a digital marketplace that sells products from several hundred brands, boutiques and department stores from around the world. The company was founded in 2007 by the Portuguese entrepreneur José Neves and is headquartered in London.
History
Farfetch was founded in 2007 by José Neves. The company was previously known as Far-fetch.com Ltd from 2007- 2010 and Farfetch.com Ltd from 2010 - 2013.
Farfetch announced its acquisition of London high end retailer Browns in May 2015.
In June 2017, it was announced that JD.com Inc. had bought a stake in Farfetch for $397 million; the Chinese e-commerce company’s largest overseas investment.
The same month, Farfetch acquired fashion e-commerce website Style.com from Conde Nast
In September 2018, Farfetch (FTCH.N) listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), pricing shares above the estimated targeted range leading to a valuation of over $5.8 billion. The IPO raised $885 million for the company after the issue of 33.6 million new shares. Early investors in Farfetch including Vitrurian Partners and Advent Venture Partners, sold up to 10.6 million shares. It was reported that Neves will net $1.2 billion from the IPO.
On 24 September 2018, animal rights activist organization PETA announced that they had purchased shares that would allow them to attend annual shareholder meetings and stop the company from selling fur products.
In December 2018, Farfetch acquired sneaker reseller, Stadium Goods, for $250 million.
In February 2019, Farfetch agreed to merge its Chinese business with JD.com.
In August 2019, Farfetch acquired New Guards Group, the parent organisation of Off-White designer label for $675million. Immediately following the purchase, Farfetch's shares plunged by over 40 percent.
In November 2020, Farfetch entered into a joint partnership with Richemont and Alibaba. Alibaba and Richemont jointly invested $600 million in Farfetch, taking a combined 25% stake in Farfetch’s Chinese ventures.
In October 2021, Farfetch launched its in-house fashion brand, There Was One.
In January 2022 Farfetch acquired Los Angeles based retailer Violet Grey for $55.7 million.
In April 2022, Farfetch announced the acquisition of Wannaby Inc.
In October 2023, CreditRiskMonitor reported that Farfetch was nearing a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
Current operations
Farfetch currently operates marketplace websites and mobile apps in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, German, Dutch, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Italian, Danish, Swedish and Russian and ships to customers in almost 190 countries. The company has offices in 14 cities and employs over 6,000 staff.