L Brands, Inc. history, profile and corporate video
L Brands, Inc. sells lingerie, personal care and beauty products, apparel and accessories through its subsidiaries, including Victoria’s Secret, Pink, Bath and Body Works, La Senza, C.O. Bigelow, White Barn Candle Co. and Henri Bendel. The company operates through two reportable segments: Victoria’s Secret and Bath and Body Works. The Victoria’s Secret segment, including Victoria’s Secret Pink, is a specialty retailer of women’s intimate and other apparel with fashion-inspired collections, prestige fragrances and cosmetics, celebrated supermodels and world-famous runway shows. Additionally, Victoria’s Secret brand products are also sold in stores operated by partners under a franchise or wholesale model throughout the world. The Bath & Body Works segment is a specialty retailers of home fragrance and personal care products including shower gels, lotions, soaps and sanitizers. The company was founded by Leslie Herbert Wexner in 1963 and is headquartered in Columbus, OH.“
“Our Founder
Leslie H. Wexner, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of L Brands, Inc., was born Sept. 8, 1937, in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Russian immigrants. When he was young, his parents worked hard, owning and operating a small store named “Leslie’s” in downtown Columbus. He credits his parents with teaching him the importance of hard work and attention to details, and the belief that anything is possible. After graduating from The Ohio State University (OSU) and serving in the Air National Guard, he decided to work in his parents’ business.
In 1963, Les founded L Brands with one store in the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Columbus, Ohio – The Limited – with sales of $160,000 the first year. In the years that followed, he expanded his business portfolio through both invention and acquisition, becoming a dominant U.S. retailer with numerous powerful brands and brand extensions. Under Les’ leadership, L Brands has evolved from an apparel based specialty retailer to an approximately $10 billion segment leader with more than 90,000 associates focused on lingerie, beauty and personal care product categories that make customers feel sexy, sophisticated and forever young.
Throughout his career, Les has been committed to making a difference in the community and is one of the industry’s most generous philanthropists. In 2010, Les and his family, in conjunction with L Brands Foundation, made a historic $100 million commitment to OSU to benefit the OSU Medical Center (renamed in February 2012 the Wexner Medical Center at The Ohio State University in 2012), The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute, and the Wexner Center for the Arts as well as select other university initiatives. Aside from his passion for OSU, Les’ other philanthropic interests include the Wexner Institute for Pediatric Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio; the Martin Luther King Center for the Performing Arts, also in Columbus; and the Wexner Heritage Village. He is a generous supporter of the United Way, and was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship for his commitment to the public good.”
*Information from Forbes.com and Limitedbrands.com
**Video published on YouTube by “LimitedBrandsInc“