Authentic Brands Group has acquired a 51% stake in Guess’s IP, at $16.75 per share in, valuing Guess at approximately $1.4 billion, making it the second-largest brand in Authentic’s portfolio after Reebok and bringing the holding group’s total annual retail sales to $38 billion.
Through the deal, Authentic is dividing Guess’s IP and operations. Paul and Maurice Marciano, who co-founded the company in 1981, along with Nicolai Marciano and Guess CEO Carlos Alberini, will own the remaining 49%, as well as 100% of the company’s operations. Leadership at the brand is not expected to change. The deal will take the global fashion label, which first debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in 1996, private.
Authentic founder and CEO Jamie Salter believes his company can turn Guess into a $10 billion business. In 2025, Guess reported $3 billion in revenue, an 8 per cent year-over-year increase.
“I’m very confident that this brand is way undervalued,” he says. “It’s going to take some time, but I believe we can get there.”
Paul Marciano, Guess’s co-founder and chief creative officer, says that the market has changed in the 30 years since Guess went public. “In the ’90s, it was a different story than in 2026. You lose the perception of the brand s value. After what we’ve built, it’s not fair, it’s not right, and we have no obligation to stay public,” he says. But prior discussions to sell didn’t go anywhere. “So many people have tried to buy the company, refinance it with private equity — blah, blah, blah. Nothing works. We want to protect our independence and freedom and not pile debt onto the company.”
Then he met Jamie Salter.
“The light went on. Oh em gee. What are we going to do together? He’s an animal. He’s a beast. His mind runs 1,000 miles an hour. You have to tell him to slow down. What he built in 15 years is unreal,” Marciano says. “He has knowledge of things I don’t know at all, like entertainment, sport, hospitality. What I know is product, licensing, partnerships. When you put that together, you see the potential.” Marciano says that in the last several years, he saw Authentic’s direction changing, with “real, up and running” brands like Reebok and Champion coming into the fold. That drew him in.
Authentic owns a slew of fashion companies, like Barneys, Nine West, Billabong, Brooks Brothers, Forever21, Roxy, Lucky Brand, and Eddie Bauer. It’s in the business of buying up once-beloved, once dusty brands and breathing new life into them through licensing deals that often sprawl well beyond merchandise, into hospitality, entertainment, residences, and sports with a shared platform model that propels marketing campaigns, category launches, and international expansion. “People love nostalgic brands,” Salter says.
In acquisitions, Salter says the most important factor is that a brand has global name recognition with room to grow by category and market. “That’s the most important part,” he says. “Then we look at the archives. Does this brand have serious staying power? Guess, Reebok, Champion — all legacy great brands with great archives. Today, brands need a heartbeat. That’s critical. We’re bringing Guess back to the younger generation, and we’ll do that on a big scale.”
Salter and Marciano say they see growth opportunities for Guess in markets including India, Brazil, and China, and with new licensing agreements in categories like fragrance. Guess is also eyeing more acquisitions itself, following its acquisition of Rag Bone last year. As for Authentic, Salter says that it has another acquisition announcement coming on the heels of this one.
“We’re big believers in the fashion business,” Salter says. “You have to invest in these brands. That’s why the model works.”
Correction: Authentic doesn’t own JCPenney as previously reported. (January 23, 2026)
More from this author:
Fashion’s Real Reset Starts Now
