The encyclopedia · Strategy & Leadership · Strategic decision · 2020-2025
Ambush sold majority control for growth capital — then had to buy itself back
Five years after ceding majority control for growth capital, Ambush's founders bought the brand back to escape its parent's Italian bankruptcy-protection filing
Ambush · 2025-04-11
What happened
Ambush, the Tokyo jewelry-turned-streetwear label founded by Yoon Ahn and Verbal in 2008, sold majority ownership to Italian brand incubator New Guards Group in 2020 in exchange for growth capital and global distribution. New Guards Group was itself majority-owned by Farfetch.
Farfetch fell into distress and was taken over by South Korean e-commerce group Coupang for $500 million in emergency funding at the end of 2023. New Guards Group lost its European Reebok distribution license in late October 2024, and weeks later, on November 18, 2024, filed for CNC — an Italian bankruptcy-protection restructuring procedure — citing an unsustainable debt load.
On April 11, 2025, Yoon Ahn and Verbal announced they had reacquired full ownership of Ambush from New Guards Group, with the purchase price undisclosed. Ambush joined a wave of NGG-owned brands — Off-White, Palm Angels and Alanui among them — whose founders bought back their companies rather than remain tied to the restructuring parent.
Why it happened
- Selling majority control to a single incubator tied Ambush's fate to that incubator's own balance sheet, not just its own performance.
- New Guards Group concentrated many brands under one fragile parent, so its distress — the Farfetch takeover, the lost Reebok license — became every portfolio brand's problem at once.
The lesson
Trading majority control for growth capital makes a brand's independence contingent on its investor's solvency, not just its own — and buying that independence back can cost more than what was raised.
Sources
- WWD | Ambush Founders Buy Back Majority Stake From New Guards Group
- WWD | New Guards Group Restructures Under Bankruptcy Protection in Italy
- Oui Speak Fashion | Ambush Founders Regain Full Ownership
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