HauteLook Sold in a Flash

Old-school retailer Nordstrom has picked up a newbie in the retail world—online flash sales site HauteLook—in yet another sign that older companies are looking at young, Web-based media properties with admiring eyes.

The Seattle-based retailer announced the deal late Thursday, saying it will acquire the site for $180 million in Nordstrom stock, and a three-year earn-out of up to $90 million more in stock, based upon company performance and vesting requirements for the existing management team.

In a statement, the retailer said the acquisition will “enable Nordstrom to participate in the fast-growing private-sale marketplace and provide a platform to increase innovation and speed in the way it serves customers in all channels.”

Led by CEO Adam Bernhard, HauteLook will be an independent, wholly-owned subsidiary of Nordstrom, and the HauteLook brand and website will be separate from Nordstrom's.

HauteLook is one of a growing number of flash sale sites that have launched in recent years. It offers discounts of up to 75 percent on products for women, men, children, home, beauty, travel and local services. The site, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, launched in 2007.

Since the recession hit, sites such as HauteLook, Gilt Groupe and Ideeli.com, have been in a win-win position because they offer the deep discounts that consumers seek, and they have given apparel companies, jewelry designers and other manufacturers the chance to unload excess inventory that piled up when shoppers stopped spending as much during the Great Recession.

It’s the latest sign of renewed interest in new media properties. Wall Street heavyweight JPMorgan Chase & Co., recently set up a fund for social media ventures.

AOL, practically an online news elder these days, just bought The Huffington Post for $315 million. And of course, there have been a series of high valuations for Internet upstarts including the discount site Groupon, which recently raised $950 million and is entertaining pitches to go public for as much as $15 billion.

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