Franchise Group is creating a new home furnishings division consisting of its American Freight, Buddy’s Home Furnishings and W.S. Badcock businesses.

The division, which includes two Top 100 retailers, will be led by Peter Corsa, an industry veteran and former president and chief operating officer of Top 100 retailer At Home.

“Peter is perfectly aligned with FRG’s cash flow mentality, and we expect him to play an invaluable role in driving best practices and synergies throughout our Home Furnishings Division, while allowing each brand to maintain its operational independence,” said Brian Kahn, Franchise Group’s president and CEO. “Additionally, I am confident that Peter’s previous experience ramping a value retailer’s unit count, revenue, and EBITDA more than five-fold will translate well to our American Freight brand as we seek to accelerate the growth plan for that business.”

Franchise Group announced the moves in its third quarter earnings release, in which it topped $1 billion in revenues for the third quarter of 2022 but posted a loss of $121.2 million. Included in net loss from continuing operations was a goodwill impairment charge of $70 million related to American Freight.

And while some of American Freight’s struggles were due to what Kahn characterized as “paying too much for the wrong mix of inventory,” he noted on a call with investors that the decision to bring in a home furnishings CEO has been on the company’s priority list for some time.

“We went out looking for the right athlete for this role many months ago,” Kahn said. “This is not a reaction to anything; it’s recognizing the environment we’re going to be in and finding someone who has accomplished what we want to do with American Freight. We’re going to have the benefit of the same athlete overseeing all three of our home furnishings businesses.”

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