The Decline and Fall of Victoria’s Secret Titan Les Wexner
- Brand’s sale will bring an end to remarkable U.S. retail run
- Shifting tastes, scandal and sexism have upended his empire
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As 47 models strutted down the catwalk at the Victoria’s Secret fashion show in New York, billionaire Les Wexner was flying high.
It was 2015 and his L Brands Inc. -- which started with a single shop in Ohio five decades earlier -- had just soared to a record market value of $29 billion, driven by a lingerie empire and Fantasy Bra vision of female beauty.