Bath & Body Works, Inc.

Bath & Body Works, Inc. (formerly known as L Brands, Inc., Limited Brands, Inc. and The Limited, Inc.) is an American specialty retail company based in Columbus, Ohio. It owns Bath & Body Works, posted $7.4 billion in revenue in 2023, and was listed as 481 on the 2024 Fortune 500 list of largest United States companies by revenue.

In February 2020, L Brands announced the planned sale of its Victoria's Secret division to Sycamore Partners, a private equity firm. Under the agreement, Sycamore Partners would gain a 55% controlling stake in Victoria's Secret while L Brands would keep a 45% stake, leaving Bath & Body Works to become L Brand's sole business. The sale fell through in May 2020, although CEO Les Wexner did step down as planned, and was succeeded by Andrew Meslow. Daniel Heaf was appointed the new CEO effective May 19, 2025, replacing Gina Boswell who stepped down in May 2025.

In March 2021, L Brands announced it would spin off Victoria's Secret as a stand-alone publicly traded company, and then change its name to Bath & Body Works, Inc. As of August 3, 2021, the separation was complete, and Bath and Body Works stock started trading under the ticker symbol "BBWI".

Bella Cabakoff was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and moved to Columbus as a toddler. At age 21, she became the youngest buyer for the Lazarus department store chain. After spending over 20 years working for Lazarus, in 1951, she and her husband Harry Wexner opened a women's clothing store named Leslie's on State Street. The store was named after their son, Leslie "Les" Wexner, and he began working there when he was attending college at Ohio State University.

In 1963, Wexner borrowed $5,000 from his aunt and $5,000 from the bank and opened a store at the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, Ohio. This store was named "The Limited" because the store focused on clothing for younger women, unlike his parents' general merchandise store. Later, in 1964, Bella and Harry closed their store to join their son in his venture.

The original board consisted of only the three family members and longtime friend Jim Waldron, who served as Senior Vice President. Bella Wexner served as secretary until her death in 2001, Harry as chairman (he served until his death in 1975), and Leslie, CEO from inception, later succeeded his father as the chairman. As of 2014^[update], he and his family continued to own 17% of LB. In 1969, Wexner took The Limited Brands public and sold 47,600 shares at $7.25 a share. In 1977, The Limited moved into its main headquarters on Morse Road in Columbus, from which L Brands still operates today. In 1982, The Limited was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

L Brands shareholders filed a complaint in the Court of Chancery of Delaware on January 14, 2021, stating that former chair Wexner, among others, created an "entrenched culture of misogyny, bullying and harassment" and was aware of abuses being committed by accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, which breached his fiduciary duty to the company, causing devaluation of the brand. The complaint also names Wexner's wife, Abigail, current chair Sarah E. Nash, and former marketing officer Ed Razek, whose "widely known misconduct" was long allowed at the company.

In February 2021, L Brands announced the retirement of CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer in August of that year, to be replaced by CEO of Victoria's Secret Martin Waters. Mr. Burgdoerfer stated he was "grateful to have had the opportunity to work with extraordinary people in every part of the business."