BAKER
Richard

• 1. Career

Richard Alan Baker is an American business executive. He is the Governor, CEO, and Executive Chairman of Hudson's Bay Company (HBC)  and executive chairman of each of HBC's eight portfolio companies.

He is also the owner of National Realty and Development Corp. (NRDC), a US-based private real estate development and investment company, and is the Chairman of the Retail Opportunity Investments Corp. (ROIC), a public real estate company.

Career

He began his career working for his father, a mall developer and principal of National Realty & Development Corp, after graduating from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. In 2006, he purchased Lord & Taylor, America's longest continually operating department store from Federated Department Stores, for $1.2 billion, borrowing $1 billion to finance the deal. In 2017, Baker sold the Lord & Taylor flagship building on Fifth Avenue for $850 million to WeWork. Two years later, he sold the Lord & Taylor operating company for $100 million to Le Tote.

In 2008, Baker led NRDC's purchase of the Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), North America's oldest company (established by English royal charter in 1670), Baker becoming its Governor (company chairman).

In November 2012, HBC was publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, at which time Baker assumed the role of interim CEO until the appointment of Helena Foulkes as CEO in 2018.

In 2013, Baker led the acquisition by HBC of Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks OFF 5TH through the $2.9 billion purchase of its parent company, Saks Inc.

In 2015, as HBC's chairman, Richard orchestrated the acquisition of Germany's largest department store chain, Galeria Kaufhof. In 2018, HBC sold part of its German real estate assets to Signa Holding, the owner of the German department store Karstadt, for €411 million as the two companies entered into a merger agreement valued at €3.25 billion. The following year, HBC sold its remaining stake in the merger for $1.5 billion to Signa Group, thus exiting the European market. On April 9, 2024 it was announced that his investment company NRDC intends to once again acquire the department store chain which had become known as Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof from the insolvent Signa Holding company.

In March 2020, Baker led a group of shareholders to take HBC private, at which time he resumed the role of CEO in addition to his existing role as Executive Chairman.

In October of that year, HBC created a dedicated investment and real estate business, HBC Properties and Investments, responsible for the operation of 40 million square feet of leasable area throughout North America.

In August 2021, Baker led the expansion of Hudson's Bay department stores with the launch of the company's online marketplace, TheBay.com.

Baker is the non-executive chairman of the Retail Opportunity Investments Corporation, a real estate investment trust listed on the NASDAQ Stock Exchange that focuses on retail properties located on the west coast of the United States.

Baker has served on the board of trustees of Cornell University since 2014. He also sits on the advisory boards of the Cornell University School of Hotel Management and the Baker Program in Real Estate–a two-year real estate graduate program at Cornell University.