Amazon’s top aggregator Thrasio files for bankruptcy

Trasio, an early leader in aggregation Amazon sellers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a New Jersey court on Wednesday.

The company said it had agreed with creditors to reduce its debt by about $495 million. Thrasio said some lenders have committed to providing him with up to $90 million in fresh capital, which he says will go toward ongoing operations and allow him to continue to manage brands in his portfolio.

“Thrasio is one of the largest third-party sellers in the Amazon marketplace, and with a strengthened balance sheet and new capital, we will be better equipped to support our brands, scale our infrastructure and enable future opportunities,” said the CEO Thrasio’s Greg Greeley in a statement.

Thrasio and other Amazon aggregators have raised billions of dollars from investors looking to cash in on the craze for aggregating third-party sellers. Aggregators bought promising products and storefronts on Amazon to use their data and operational expertise to drive sales. But the hype began to die down last year as the pandemic ended, e-commerce growth slowed and economic uncertainty increased.

Thrasio, which ranked No. 40 on CNBC’s 2022 Disruptor 50 list, raised $3.4 billion. At one point, the company intended to go public through a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, but plans were delayed due to a complicated audit process, CNBC previously reported.

The company laid off about 20% of its employees in 2022, and several executives left, including co-founder Josh Silberstein. This year it is named Greeley, a 19-year Amazon veteran who oversaw the development of the Prime loyalty program, succeeds co-founder Carlos Cashman, who remains a member of Thrasio’s board, as its CEO.

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