The retail giant Americanas S.A. has been facing a major problem that not only caused the company’s shares to plummet by 80% on the stock market but also raised doubts about the company’s ability to recover.
Last week, the CEO and CFO of Americanas, Sergio Rial, resigned just two weeks after taking office. The reason? He discovered a hole of about R$ 20 billion in the company’s accounts. Shortly after, news emerged that the “accounting discrepancies” could exceed R$ 40 billion.
Creditors and shareholders want to know what actually happened with this accounting.
For now, what remains are doubts regarding the retailer’s future. The company has very high debts, but its accounts will undergo a strict audit, and in the meantime, both physical stores and the website and app are operating normally. Therefore, experts do not yet consider it a risk to shop at Brazil’s most popular retailer.
The Story of Lojas Americanas
Lojas Americanas was founded in 1929 in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, by Austrian-Brazilian Max Landesmann and Americans John Lee, Glen Matson, James Marshall, and Batson Borger.
The Americans left the United States and went to Buenos Aires with the goal of opening a “Five and Dime” store. The idea was to launch a store with low prices, inspired by the stores in the United States and Europe that became popular in the early 20th century. During their journey through South America, they met Brazilians Aquino Sales and Max Landesman, who convinced them to change their plans and head to Rio de Janeiro.
After spending some time in Rio de Janeiro, the Americans decided that Rio was indeed the perfect city to launch the new business concept. They built a low-priced store – to cater to the “forgotten” consumer populations – and sold as wide a variety of products as possible.
In 1929, they opened the first store in Niterói. During the first hour the store was open, no one showed up. Failure seemed imminent. However, a girl, after spending a few minutes looking at the window display, came in and bought a doll. And thus, Lojas Americanas made the first of many sales. By the end of the first year, they had already opened four stores – three in Rio de Janeiro and one in São Paulo.
In 1999, the company began selling goods online through the website Americanas.com.
Currently, the company has 1,945 stores in all 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District. The store is the sixth largest retailer in Brazil.
The company, headquartered in Rio de Janeiro with 4 distribution centers (Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Pernambuco, and Minas Gerais), is controlled by three Brazilian billionaires: Jorge Paulo Lemann, Marcel Herrmann Telles, and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, the same trio that runs Anheuser-Busch InBev, 3G Capital, São Carlos S.A., and other groups.