Saks Fifth Avenue Owed $3.4 Billion. Here's Who Broke It.

In January 2026, the company behind Saks Fifth Avenue filed for bankruptcy, owing at least $3.4 billion. For 101 years it was where America's richest people shopped. So how did it run out of money? This is the story of a 1924 gamble on Fifth Avenue, a buyer who saw buildings instead of customers, a $2.65 billion deal for its biggest rival, and the bills that finally came due. CHAPTERS 0:00 The night Saks went bankrupt 0:38 The Bet 2:10 The Landlord 3:06 The Pattern 3:52 The Big Bet 4:44 The Unpaid Bills 5:40 The Collapse 6:28 What's Left 7:26 The Lesson SOURCES Encyclopedia.com, Saks Fifth Avenue: https://www.encyclopedia.com/media/en... Wikipedia, Saks flagship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saks_Fi... SEC 8-K, HBC to acquire Saks (2013): https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da... Wealth Professional, rethink Hudson's Bay: https://www.wealthprofessional.ca/new... Retail TouchPoints, Neiman deal: https://www.retailtouchpoints.com/fea... Digital Commerce 360, Amazon & Salesforce: https://www.digitalcommerce360.com/20... Retail Dive, vendors unpaid: https://www.retaildive.com/news/saks-... AP via WTOP, suppliers: https://wtop.com/news/2026/01/saks-ba... Bloomberg Government, skipped payment: https://news.bgov.com/bankruptcy-law/... ABC/AP, CEO steps down: https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Business/w... Washington Post, Chapter 11: https://www.washingtonpost.com/busine... Boston Globe, Baker interview: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/02/2... CBS News, Off 5th closures: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saks-off... Robb Report, Exemplar: https://robbreport.com/lifestyle/news... Fox Business, emergence: https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/s... Traded, flagship stays: https://traded.co/blog/saks-fifth-ave... Global News, Hudson's Bay closes: https://globalnews.ca/news/11207566/h... PHOTOS Via Wikimedia Commons: Saks Fifth Avenue by Ajay Suresh (CC BY 2.0); Saks Fifth Avenue by Eden, Janine and Jim (CC BY 2.0); Saks Christmas Light Show by Anthony Quintano (CC BY 2.0); Neiman Marcus Dallas by Andreas Praefcke (CC BY 3.0). Licenses: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.... Images cropped and color-graded. Archival images (1913-1930 photos, advertisements, The New York Times page of Oct. 24, 1929, Bromley map), Lord & Taylor and Hudson's Bay photos: public domain / CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. "The Evening Ledger" pages in the opening are a dramatization; the headlines summarise real, sourced events. MUSIC "Covert Affair", "Inspired", "Long Note Four" and "Despair and Triumph" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Rise & Ruin tells the true stories behind billionaires, business empires and the people who lost them. New documentary every week. Nothing on this channel is financial advice. #SaksFifthAvenue #NeimanMarcus #BusinessStory