The Billionaire Who Saved Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors Is Now Saving Aston Martin With More Cash

You ever zoom out on a stock chart so far that you have to go back 10-20 years before you see any bullish momentum? That’s Aston Martin. The longer you stare at it, the more it turns from “luxury carmaker” into “luxury tax write-off.” If you bought shares in this British icon thinking you’d ride shotgun with 007, joke’s on you… you’ve been tied to the hood while the car drove off a cliff.

The stock is down 59% over the last year and 16% just in the last month. At this point, you’d have been better off lighting your cash on fire (at least that would’ve kept you warm).

And yet, this morning… boom. Shares popped 13% because Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll (who saved Tommy Hilfiger and Michael Kors) “strolled” up with $162 million in fresh cash and a plan to keep Aston Martin from becoming one of those youtube documentaries about its slow and painful demise.

This guy has already pumped over $760 million into Aston Martin since 2020. But like a dad whose kid keeps flunking college, he’s once again footing the bill. His investment group, Yew Tree Consortium, is dropping $66 million to buy 75 million new shares at 89 cents a pop (a 7% premium over Friday’s close).

That increases his ownership from 27.7% to about 33%, and he’s looking to go as high as 35%, assuming UK regulators give the green light. In Stroll’s words, this “underscores my conviction in this extraordinary brand.” Don’t forget, this is the same man who resurrected not one, but two fashion brands that were basically dead in the water.

Tommy Hilfiger in the '90s was fading fast before he got involved. Same with Michael Kors in the 2000s… it was a mall brand with no momentum. But then Stroll came in, revamped the strategy, scaled them globally, and turned them into billion-dollar empires. So when he says he’s confident in Aston Martin’s future, he can back it up.

But the cash injection doesn’t stop there. Aston Martin’s also offloading part of its Formula One team (the flashy side business with the cool jumpsuits) to bring in another $93 million. That brings the total haul from this morning’s announcement to $162 million, which CEO Adrian Hallmark says will “accelerate our path to sustainable profitability.” And they need it. Fast.

Aston Martin is in big trouble. The company laid off 170 employees (5% of its global workforce) last month and has already issued two profit warnings since CEO Adrian Hallmark (a former Bentley boss) took the wheel in late 2023.

It also lowered guidance for 2025 after tariffs announced under Trump 2.0 cast doubt over export volumes. And to make matters worse… they’ve now dialed back expectations from “mid-single digit growth” to “modest growth.”

So is there any home in a turnaround? Honestly? Maybe. Stroll’s track record with distressed brands is legit, and his continued doubling-down suggests he sees value here that others don’t. But if you’re a retail investor who bought Aston Martin at its IPO high of $24 back in 2018… and it’s now trading at $0.89… you don’t need a Bloomberg terminal to know the math ain’t mathing.

The brand is iconic. The cars are gorgeous… but the losses are never ending. This isn’t a turnaround story yet… but at least they’ve got a billionaire in their corner who’s done this successfully twice.

Stock.News does not have positions in companies mentioned.