Birchbox Has Sold Majority Ownership To One Of Its Hedge Fund Investors After Sale Talks With QVC Fell Through

After many months of acquisition talks, Birchbox has found a buyer: One of its own investors, the hedge fund Viking Global Investors. Viking Global has acquired a majority stake in the beauty startup after agreeing to invest around $15 million of new cash into the business, multiple sources told Recode. Viking Global is also taking over a startup that currently has tens of millions of dollars in debt, sources say, as Birchbox tries to kick-start profitable growth to emerge from that shadow. With the deal, Birchbox’s other investors — which include top venture capital firms including Accel Partners and First Round Capital — are getting wiped out, and are expected to walk away with nothing. Birchbox had raised nearly $90 million in financing from investors since its 2010 founding, and was once valued at nearly $500 million. Read more at Recode.