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Soho House is a public company nomo. Soho House, a hotel and private club chain, is being acquired by MCR Hotelsgoing private, and it is also adding some new names to its leadership team. The company first went public in 2021, and along with Mondays announcement, says that Neil Thomson will become the companys new CFO, MCRs chairman and CEO Tyler Morse will join its Board of Directions, as will Ashton Kutcher, an actor whos gone on to become a rather prominent investor in recent years. The deal has reportedly been brewing since December, and shareholders will receive $9 per share, which is a premium of 18% over Fridays closing price. MCR Hotels operates 150 hotels in 37 states, including the TWA Hotel, Gramercy Park Hotel, Pasadena Hotel & Pool, and High Line Hotels in New York City, where Soho House New York is located. Soho Houses global network comprises 46 Houses, which will be added to the mix. Since our IPO in 2021, weve focused on building a stronger, more resilient business. Against a backdrop of challenging economic conditions and global uncertainty, from 2022-2024 we delivered consistent, disciplined growth with revenue increasing at an average annual rate of double digit growth, Andrew Carnie, Soho Houses CEO said in a statement. Returning to private ownership enables us to build on this momentum, with the support of world class hospitality and investment partners. Further, Morse said that MCRs investment in Soho House represents a strategic opportunity to combine our operational expertise with one of the most distinctive brands in hospitality. Our shared goal is to safeguard the member experience, drive sustainable international growth for House members, and protect and expand the cultural and creative foundation that has made Soho House a global industry leader. In recent months, Soho House has put up solid numbers. Its latest earnings report, which came out earlier this month, showed total revenue growing nearly 9% year-over-year to roughly $330 million. However, since the company went public, its shares are down almost 30%.
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E-Commerce
On an average day, tens of millions of people visit The New York Times Games section to solve the latest crossword puzzle, keep their Wordle streak alive, or see if they can figure out the mystery of that day’s Connections puzzle. Two-thirds of the site’s weekly visitors play two or more games. Half play four or more. Despite that, or perhaps because of it, The Times only occasionally releases new game offeringstypically one per year. So that makes Monday’s release of Pips, the latest permanent addition to the collection especially significant. It’s not only new, it’s a new kind of puzzle, eschewing wordplay for logic. And if the reactions to the beta test (which launched in Canada in April)and the outcry when The Times took the game offline for final polishingare any indication, the company might have found its next big hit. Reddit users have been mourning its absence for over a month, debating whether the game would return and when. Reviews of the beta were glowing, calling it “a brilliant fusion of classic gaming elements and modern puzzle design.” “We wanted to do something that was original and fresh, but still familiar,” says Jonathan Knight, senior vice president and head of games at The New York Times. Pips was first proposed last year and the team has been working on it throughout 2025. It’s a puzzle-based take on dominoes that lets users choose between three difficulty levels. Each game board has a series of conditions (for instance, in some regions, you must have the same number of pips, the dots on a domino, in each box, while in others, the pips must add up to a certain number). Like sudoku, it’s about balance. You have to place your dominoes in a pattern that satisfies all of the different requirements. Easy puzzles in Pips have players placing four or five dominoes. Hard ones will have up to 16. There are no time limits. If you get the puzzle wrong, you can go back and continue working on it. And the game will show you the areas you need to correct. “It’s very hard in life to finish anything,” says Ian Livengood, puzzle editor of Pips. “So there’s something very satisfying about being able to finish [this game].” [Image: The New York Times] Hooking the player In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to capture people’s attention, The Times has had incredible success. Last year, its puzzles were played 11.1 billion times. Of that number, nearly half was focused on Wordle, which was played 5.3 billion times in 2024. (Every minute, the company says, more than 2,000 people share their Wordle score.) Connections, introduced in 2023, was played 3.3 billion times. The Games team says it doesn’t focus on those numbers, but it does challenge itself to create titles that draw people back again and again. Most ideas don’t make the cut. Several dozen concepts are pitched each year, from all corners of the company via hackathons and other initiatives. The majority of those concepts don’t get too far. Some, like Zorse (a phrase-guessing game introduced last year) get as far as public beta tests before they’re rejected. It comes down, generally, to the elusive fun factor. “We focus very much first on the mechanics and finding the fun,” says Knight. With Pips, he says, there weren’t a lot of major changes from the game’s concept to its final execution. Most of the evolution was in how the game visually communicated the requirements of the puzzle to the player. Livengood says the hook for Pips as well as other Times games is their level of visual clarity. They’re not designed to overwhelm you. You can look at the games and generally figure out what you’re supposed to do in a very short amount of time. While games like Candy Crush use AI to create and optimize levels, puzzles at The New York Times, whether in Pips, Wordle, or any other game, are handcrafted. “There’s always a person behind the game,” Livengood says. “And increasingly, with AI and computer-generated algorithms, that feels almost refreshing. It’s comforting knowing there’s a person behind it.” A less-is-more approach also helps draw people back in. Times games are designed to only take a few minutes, then you’re free (and encouraged) to go about your day. “It fits into your life,” says Knight. “We’re not trying to get you to stay in our app 24 hours a day. We’re not nagging you constantly. A healthy, time well-spent cadence has been what makes us so successful.” Pips could get people to stick around a little longer, though. With three possible daily puzzles, people who get hooked could opt to play more than once per day. Pips is also the first new game from the Times team that will launch simultaneously on both the web and on the app. (Traditionally, games would launch on one first, then the other months later.) “That represents us getting stronger and better at what we’re doing,” says Knight.
Category:
E-Commerce
The retail clothing chain FatFace has confirmed to Fast Company that it will be closing 23 of its stores in the United States and Canada. Heres what you need to know about the companys shuttering of stores. Whats happened? Retail clothing chain FatFace has confirmed to Fast Company that it will be shuttering 23 stores in the United States and Canada. FatFace is a U.K.-based lifestyle, accessory, and apparel store that was founded in 1988. In 2023, British fashion retail giant Next bought the company for around $140 million. But in the years since the acquisition, physical brick-and-mortar retailers have struggled, leading to numerous high-profile chains shuttering their stores. Major retail chains that have shuttered stores in the past few years have included furnishings retailer At Home, fashion and accessories retailer Claires, and discount retailer Big Lots. The Express says that FatFaces decision to close its North American locations is due to economic uncertainty and increased costs. The company told Fast Company that rising costs made the physical store model unviable at this time. FatFace says the closure of its North American stores will impact 145 jobs. FatFace lives on overseas and online However, while FatFace has confirmed that it is closing its North American locations, the brand will still live on overseas and online. After the North American stores are shuttered, FatFace will continue to sell its wares to Canadian and U.S. customers online. The company will also continue to operate the 175 brick-and-mortar stores it currently has in the United Kingdom. But any future expansion plans the company has in the works seem to be digital only. FatFace says it will expand its online offerings to additional countries beyond the U.S. and the U.K. in the future. North American FatFace store locations FatFace did not provide a list of its closing locations or a date by which they would be permanently shuttered. But all of its 23 existing locations in the United States are scheduled to close for good in 2025. Those seeking a list of where the FatFace stores are in North America should be aware that the company has confirmed to Fast Company that its online store locator tool for North America is not currently accurate. As of the time of this writing, that online store locator tool lists more than 60 locations currently operating in the United States and Canada. But FatFace told Fast Company that the brand only has 23 locations left in North America. Retail store closures could hit 15,000 in 2025 FatFace isnt the only retailer facing store closings this yearand it likely wont be the last. According to a January report from Coresight Research, up to 15,000 retail stores in the United States could close by the end of the year. That would represent a 50% increase from the 10,000 that closed in 2020 as the pandemic depressed in-store shopping. The main driver behind the expected closures, Coresight says, is increased online competition and inflationary pressures.
Category:
E-Commerce
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