Online fashion retailer Boohoo has bought the Debenhams brand and website for £55m in a deal that will see the eponymous department store name survive, but the company's remaining 118 stores close for good in the UK.
The deal will see Debenhams products sold by Boohoo from early next year, allowing enough time for liquidators to continue closing the retailer's sites once they are allowed to reopen after Covid-19 lockdown restrictions are lifted.
But with stores closing across the 242-year-old brand, it is unlikely many of the remaining 12,000 jobs are likely to be saved.
Debenhams had already announced significant job losses and the permanent closure of six stores, including its flagship outlet on London's Oxford Street.