Rent the Runway CEO Jenn Hyman Steps Down After 18 Years as Stock Sits 98% Below IPO
Updated
Updated · Fortune · May 13
Rent the Runway CEO Jenn Hyman Steps Down After 18 Years as Stock Sits 98% Below IPO
10 articles · Updated · Fortune · May 13
Teri Bariquit, a board member and former Nordstrom executive, will take over as interim CEO while Rent the Runway searches for a permanent successor.
Hyman said she chose to leave only after the company stabilized, pointing to a late-2025 debt recapitalization that avoided bankruptcy and shifted majority control to private equity investors Story3 and Nexus.
Rent the Runway generated nearly $330 million in revenue last year, moved $4.6 billion in gross merchandise value over the past 12 months, and ended Q4 with a record number of active subscribers.
The company has also remade its model, with 70% of inventory now under revenue-share agreements rather than the more capital-intensive approach that weighed on earlier years.
Hyman, 45, exits as the founder of an 18-year-old rental-fashion pioneer that now faces rivals such as Nuuly and potential new formats like peer-to-peer rental.
With private equity now in control, will Rent the Runway's revolutionary rental model survive the necessary pivot to profitability?
After a 98% stock drop, is the founder's departure a strategic exit or a quiet ousting by new private equity owners?