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   Why mattress stores are everywhere and nowhere
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           Wednesday, July 29, 2026
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           The mattress store con
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           <p>
            On December 13, 2018, NPR's Planet Money drove to a nearly empty Mattress Firm in Schererville, Indiana, to answer a question the internet kept asking: are mattress stores fronts for money laundering? The store belonged to the biggest mattress retailer in the country, a chain built by acquisition and empty enough that Reddit had a theory.
           </p>
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            The theory is wrong. The real answer is stranger, and it explains why the industry keeps collapsing into fewer, bigger companies.
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           The joke and the math
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           <p>
            A $1,000 mattress costs about $250 to make, and the markup runs high enough that a store only needs to sell a dozen to 20 a month to cover its costs. On that same $1,000 sale, "a mattress store would be walking away with $600" at a gross level, Brad Thomas, an equity research analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, told
            <a>
             Freakonomics
            </a>
            .
           </p>
          </div>
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           <p>
            The overhead is tiny. Stores don't stock inventory, they deliver from a distributor or
                      warehouse, and many employees work on commission. An empty room with a few floor models is the business.
           </p>
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            By the Digits
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            $250
           </a>
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            <p>
             Cost to make a mattress that retails for $1,000.
            </p>
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        </tr>
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         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="background-color:#E8E5DF;width:100%;line-height:1.4;font-size:26px;padding:15px 30px 5px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <h3 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:26px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold">
           <a style="color:#121721;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">
            12-20
           </a>
          </h3>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad30" data-row-uuid="7cca1801-bfeb-48a4-b80a-06b9512f549f" style="background-color:#E8E5DF">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="background-color:#E8E5DF;width:100%;line-height:1.6;font-size:16px;padding:5px 30px 15px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:top;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <div style="line-height:1.6">
           <span style="color:#121721">
            <p>
             Mattresses a store needs to sell each month to cover its costs.
            </p>
           </span>
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="0a429e27-4133-473e-9d68-0f306e23440d">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="15" style="width:100%;height:15px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad30" data-row-uuid="0ae3cc9f-dcb5-4959-ac81-2f23b3414e2c" style="background-color:#E8E5DF">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="background-color:#E8E5DF;width:100%;line-height:1.4;font-size:26px;padding:15px 30px 5px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <h3 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:26px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold">
           <a style="color:#121721;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">
            $5 billion
           </a>
          </h3>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad30" data-row-uuid="928acd62-9423-4680-8bb8-333d541d3330" style="background-color:#E8E5DF">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="background-color:#E8E5DF;width:100%;line-height:1.6;font-size:16px;padding:5px 30px 15px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;vertical-align:top;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <div style="line-height:1.6">
           <span style="color:#121721">
            <p>
             What Tempur Sealy paid for Mattress Firm in 2025, joining the largest U.S. manufacturer to the largest specialty retailer.
            </p>
           </span>
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="34fc6953-6261-4204-adbf-34b9946bd9a7">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="15" style="width:100%;height:15px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="27a23fcf-ff91-45cf-8325-91b283d7fb5f">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="24" style="width:100%;height:24px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad0" data-row-uuid="7d7290a3-6152-4ac4-b83c-5696fc6ad4b4">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;padding:5px 0 10px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
          <h3 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold">
           Why comparison shopping fails
          </h3>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad0" data-row-uuid="a4700795-b6cf-4218-b5b8-5a0766c90de1">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;padding:10px 0;line-height:1.6;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#121721;vertical-align:top;font-size:16px;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <div>
           <p>
            A mattress that costs about $300 to make can sell for $3,000, a markup of 10 times the cost of materials. "The markups can be quite insane," said Derek Hales, founder of the review site
            <a>
             NapLab
            </a>
            .
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            The same mattress shows up at different retailers under different names, so you can't lay two side by side and compare. "Mattress brands will often make the same or a very similar mattress with a different cover, different names and
                      different price points, depending on the retailer that it's sold... A lot of that is intentional confusion," Hales said.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            The stores then cluster on purpose. Placing outlets near each other lets chains feed off shared foot traffic, a strategy urban planner Ken Steif calls "agglomeration": firms grouping in space to share customers, suppliers, and trained workers. It makes the category look more saturated than it is.
           </p>
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="73107b53-3500-44ab-804f-2b837ea1087a">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="24" style="width:100%;height:24px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad10" data-row-uuid="f49fded8-06a5-44ea-8c2b-79fddc22a740">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;width:100%;padding:15px 10px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
          <h2 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial;font-size:32px;font-weight:bold;color:#121721">
           <span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
            Brief History
           </span>
          </h2>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="0f97ecf4-b53a-47e9-a5fd-bde834ee9031">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px">
          <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;table-layout:fixed" width="100%">
           <tbody>
            <tr>
             <td style="width:90px;min-width:90px;vertical-align:top;padding:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;border-left:3px solid #17253D;background-color:#E8E5DF" valign="top" width="90">
              <div style="padding:14px 10px 14px 12px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.3;white-space:nowrap">
               2014
              </div>
             </td>
             <td style="vertical-align:top;padding:14px 16px 14px 14px;background-color:#E8E5DF;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;color:#121721;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word" valign="top">
              <p>
               Casper launches, selling mattresses online with no showroom and no haggling, betting shoppers will buy a bed they never lie on.
              </p>
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td colspan="2" style="height:8px;line-height:8px;font-size:1px;background-color:#F9F8F6">
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td style="width:90px;min-width:90px;vertical-align:top;padding:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;border-left:3px solid #17253D;background-color:#E8E5DF" valign="top" width="90">
              <div style="padding:14px 10px 14px 12px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.3;white-space:nowrap">
               2016
              </div>
             </td>
             <td style="vertical-align:top;padding:14px 16px 14px 14px;background-color:#E8E5DF;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;color:#121721;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word" valign="top">
              <p>
               Steinhoff buys Mattress Firm for $3.8 billion, which then pays $780 million for rival Sleepy's, leaving its own stores competing with each other.
              </p>
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td colspan="2" style="height:8px;line-height:8px;font-size:1px;background-color:#F9F8F6">
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td style="width:90px;min-width:90px;vertical-align:top;padding:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;border-left:3px solid #17253D;background-color:#E8E5DF" valign="top" width="90">
              <div style="padding:14px 10px 14px 12px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.3;white-space:nowrap">
               October 2018
              </div>
             </td>
             <td style="vertical-align:top;padding:14px 16px 14px 14px;background-color:#E8E5DF;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;color:#121721;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word" valign="top">
              <p>
               Mattress Firm files for bankruptcy with more than $3.2 billion in debt and plans to close up to 700 overlapping stores.
              </p>
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td colspan="2" style="height:8px;line-height:8px;font-size:1px;background-color:#F9F8F6">
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td style="width:90px;min-width:90px;vertical-align:top;padding:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;border-left:3px solid #17253D;background-color:#E8E5DF" valign="top" width="90">
              <div style="padding:14px 10px 14px 12px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.3;white-space:nowrap">
               December 2024
              </div>
             </td>
             <td style="vertical-align:top;padding:14px 16px 14px 14px;background-color:#E8E5DF;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;color:#121721;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word" valign="top">
              <p>
               A federal appeals court rules Serta Simmons' 2020 debt swap broke the terms of its own 2016 loan agreement.
              </p>
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td colspan="2" style="height:8px;line-height:8px;font-size:1px;background-color:#F9F8F6">
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td style="width:90px;min-width:90px;vertical-align:top;padding:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;border-left:3px solid #17253D;background-color:#E8E5DF" valign="top" width="90">
              <div style="padding:14px 10px 14px 12px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.3;white-space:nowrap">
               February 2025
              </div>
             </td>
             <td style="vertical-align:top;padding:14px 16px 14px 14px;background-color:#E8E5DF;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;color:#121721;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word" valign="top">
              <p>
               Tempur Sealy beats the FTC in court and closes its $5 billion purchase of Mattress Firm, renaming the combined company Somnigroup.
              </p>
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td colspan="2" style="height:8px;line-height:8px;font-size:1px;background-color:#F9F8F6">
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td style="width:90px;min-width:90px;vertical-align:top;padding:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;border-left:3px solid #17253D;background-color:#E8E5DF" valign="top" width="90">
              <div style="padding:14px 10px 14px 12px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.3;white-space:nowrap">
               July 2026
              </div>
             </td>
             <td style="vertical-align:top;padding:14px 16px 14px 14px;background-color:#E8E5DF;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;line-height:1.6;mso-line-height-rule:exactly;color:#121721;word-break:break-word;overflow-wrap:break-word" valign="top">
              <p>
               A Texas bankruptcy judge orders Serta Simmons to pay excluded lenders roughly $400 million over the 2020 debt swap.
              </p>
             </td>
            </tr>
            <tr>
             <td colspan="2" style="height:8px;line-height:8px;font-size:1px;background-color:#F9F8F6">
             </td>
            </tr>
           </tbody>
          </table>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="b0589cce-fec3-4be8-a7d2-016dd46d3427">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="24" style="width:100%;height:24px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad0" data-row-uuid="795caa74-0451-476e-a825-1efe6083cb6b">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;padding:5px 0 10px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
          <h3 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold">
           When the overbuilt empire broke
          </h3>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad0" data-row-uuid="fd1e13eb-311f-4f4f-b9b7-2e7723936736">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;padding:10px 0;line-height:1.6;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#121721;vertical-align:top;font-size:16px;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <div>
           <p>
            Mattress Firm's 2018 bankruptcy proves the stores are real businesses that can be run into the ground. Steinhoff International Holdings, the chain's South African parent, bought Mattress Firm for $3.8 billion in 2016. Mattress Firm had already spent $780 million on the parent of its rival Sleepy's, then rebranded those stores, leaving its own outlets competing with each other.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            On October 5, 2018, it filed for Chapter 11 with plans to close up to 700 stores. The goal was a fast exit, 45 to 60 days, using more than
                      $3.2 billion in debt and bankruptcy law's power to break unwanted leases.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            The company said so itself. "We have too many locations in close proximity to each other," said Steve Stagner, Mattress Firm's executive chairman, president, and CEO. The problem was arithmetic.
           </p>
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="bf90b983-b814-4df0-96cf-97f581308f8d">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="24" style="width:100%;height:24px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad10" data-row-uuid="dbfccae2-1bfd-4eef-8731-5ecb304ea75b">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;width:100%;padding:15px 10px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
          <h2 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial;font-size:32px;font-weight:bold;color:#121721">
           Key Fact
          </h2>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad30" data-row-uuid="065271f6-cb3d-48e7-afe7-9bb824395b80" style="background-color:#EDEBE6">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="line-height:1.6;background-color:#EDEBE6;width:100%;padding:15px 30px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <div>
           <span style="color:#121721">
            <p>
             A mattress costing about $250 to make retails for $1,000, and markups can run 10 times the cost of materials. A store needs to sell only 12 to 20 a month to cover its costs, so an
                        empty room with a few floor models is a real
                        business. (
             <a>
              source
             </a>
             )
            </p>
           </span>
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="1a497b14-cc46-450c-afb7-22c0bd6dee13">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="24" style="width:100%;height:24px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad0" data-row-uuid="241d4ffe-e1f5-4292-aa1c-9fd1e9b21b7f">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;padding:5px 0 10px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
          <h3 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold">
           The threat that got absorbed
          </h3>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr class="trpad0" data-row-uuid="c730df47-e53a-4e67-a812-4309a15b80f2">
         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;padding:10px 0;line-height:1.6;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#121721;vertical-align:top;font-size:16px;mso-line-height-rule:exactly">
          <div>
           <p>
            Casper launched in 2014 selling mattresses online with no showroom and no haggling, part of a wave of direct-to-consumer companies that promised a more transparent buying experience. The bed-in-a-box wave went straight at the confusion the incumbents depended on.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            It never took over. Online mattress sales accounted for only about six percent of the total, a figure from the mid-2010s, and buyers who want to lie down before spending four figures kept walking into stores.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            The industry consolidated
                      around the disruption instead. Tempur Sealy's $5 billion acquisition of Mattress Firm closed in February 2025, and the combined company renamed itself Somnigroup International, joining the country's largest mattress manufacturer to its largest specialty retailer.
           </p>
          </div>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="75429e23-59e8-4873-bc7d-0fe5aca71155">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" height="24" style="width:100%;height:24px;font-size:1px;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
          <!--[if mso]><img src="//editor.ne16.com/spacer.gif" style="mso-hide:all;border:0;"><![endif]-->
         </td>
        </tr>
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         <td class="editor-cell-text td100" colspan="6" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;width:100%;padding:15px 10px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px">
          <h2 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial;font-size:32px;font-weight:bold;color:#121721">
           Poll
          </h2>
         </td>
        </tr>
        <tr data-row-uuid="1a162180-a21d-4737-ac17-b4770bd3a0e0">
         <td class="td100" colspan="6" style="width:100%;vertical-align:top;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px">
          <div class="editor-email-poll" data-pollid="74911a6f-3d7c-41be-bcf3-98be48e7e141">
           <h2 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial;font-size:20px;font-weight:bold;color:#121721">
            How many mattress stores are within a 10-minute drive of your home?
           </h2>
           <div style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
            <br/>
           </div>
           <div class="editor-poll-answers classic">
            <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0 0 8px 0;" width="100%">
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                   <td height="50" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                    <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:1px solid 
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                        <!--[if !mso]><!-->
                        <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">
                         I've never noticed one
                        </a>
                        <!--<![endif]-->
                        <!--[if mso]><a 
href="https://www.ne16.com/t/11025283/226416231/10258035/0/1009502/?abb9e380=ZTRmYjBkNTItYjk2My00Mjg3LWIyYmItMTEyYWMyZmRkMGJj&x=a3e55b28" target="_blank" 
style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">I've never noticed one</a><![endif]-->
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                   <td height="50" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                    <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:1px solid 
#000000;display:block;" target="_blank">
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                    <table bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="newButton" height="50" style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;padding-right:15px;mso-padding-right-alt:15px;padding-left:15px;mso-padding-left-alt:15px;padding-top:10px;mso-padding-top-alt:10px;padding-bottom:10px;mso-padding-bottom-alt:10px;" width="100%">
                     <tbody>
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                       <td align="center" bgcolor="#000000" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                        <!--[if !mso]><!-->
                        <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">
                         One or two, maybe?
                        </a>
                        <!--<![endif]-->
                        <!--[if mso]><a 
href="https://www.ne16.com/t/11025283/226416231/10258036/0/1009502/?abb9e380=ZTRmYjBkNTItYjk2My00Mjg3LWIyYmItMTEyYWMyZmRkMGJj&x=fe6eb387" target="_blank" 
style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">One or two, maybe?</a><![endif]-->
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                  </tr>
                 </tbody>
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               </td>
              </tr>
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            <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0 0 8px 0;" width="100%">
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              <tr>
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                <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border:none;border-spacing:0;border-collapse:collapse;mso-table-lspace:0;mso-table-rspace:0" width="100%">
                 <tbody>
                  <tr>
                   <td height="50" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                    <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:1px solid 
#000000;display:block;" target="_blank">
                    </a>
                    <table bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="newButton" height="50" style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;padding-right:15px;mso-padding-right-alt:15px;padding-left:15px;mso-padding-left-alt:15px;padding-top:10px;mso-padding-top-alt:10px;padding-bottom:10px;mso-padding-bottom-alt:10px;" width="100%">
                     <tbody>
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                       <td align="center" bgcolor="#000000" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                        <!--[if !mso]><!-->
                        <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">
                         Three to five, now that you mention it
                        </a>
                        <!--<![endif]-->
                        <!--[if 
mso]><a href="https://www.ne16.com/t/11025283/226416231/10258037/0/1009502/?abb9e380=ZTRmYjBkNTItYjk2My00Mjg3LWIyYmItMTEyYWMyZmRkMGJj&x=3a1f1076" target="_blank" 
style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">Three to five, now that you mention it</a><![endif]-->
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                  </tr>
                 </tbody>
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               </td>
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            <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="margin: 0 0 8px 0;" width="100%">
             <tbody>
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                <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border:none;border-spacing:0;border-collapse:collapse;mso-table-lspace:0;mso-table-rspace:0" width="100%">
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                   <td height="50" style="vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                    <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:1px solid 
#000000;display:block;" target="_blank">
                    </a>
                    <table bgcolor="#000000" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="newButton" height="50" style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;padding-right:15px;mso-padding-right-alt:15px;padding-left:15px;mso-padding-left-alt:15px;padding-top:10px;mso-padding-top-alt:10px;padding-bottom:10px;mso-padding-bottom-alt:10px;" width="100%">
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                       <td align="center" bgcolor="#000000" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:middle;-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:16px" valign="middle">
                        <!--[if !mso]><!-->
                        <a style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">
                         They are EVERYWHERE
                        </a>
                        <!--<![endif]-->
                        <!--[if mso]><a 
href="https://www.ne16.com/t/11025283/226416231/10258038/0/1009502/?abb9e380=ZTRmYjBkNTItYjk2My00Mjg3LWIyYmItMTEyYWMyZmRkMGJj&x=31688501" target="_blank" 
style="-webkit-border-radius:25px;-moz-border-radius:25px;border-radius:25px;color:#00D5FF;text-decoration:none;font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;font-weight:bold;border:none;display:block;">They are EVERYWHERE</a><![endif]-->
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          <h3 style="mso-line-height-rule:exactly;Margin:0;font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:32px;color:#121721;font-weight:bold">
           Where the money moves now
          </h3>
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          <div>
           <p>
            The Federal Trade Commission tried to stop that merger and lost. On February 4, 2025, Judge Charles Eskridge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas denied the FTC's motion for a preliminary injunction, citing the principle that "vertical integration 'virtually never poses a threat to competition when undertaken unilaterally and in competitive markets.'" The deal went through.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            The other big fight isn't about beds at all. Serta Simmons ran a 2020 "uptier," issuing new debt backed by a priming
                      lien on its assets and buying back existing debt from participating lenders at a discount, rewarding some lenders at the expense of others. In December 2024, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the plan violated Serta's 2016 credit agreement.
           </p>
          </div>
          <div>
           <p>
            The bill came due this month. On July 7, 2026, a Texas bankruptcy judge awarded the excluded lenders roughly $400 million: $261.13 million in damages plus mandatory prejudgment interest, for breaching the pro rata sharing provision in Serta's credit agreement. The rumor imagined dirty cash moving
                      through empty stores. The real money moved through a courtroom, in a $400 million judgment over who owned the debt.
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           <span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif">
            Let’s Talk
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             X this
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             What did you think of today’s email?
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             What should we
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