The Hudson's Bay Company sold Rupert's Land for £300,000 in 1869, went insolvent in 2025, and sold its 1670 charter for $18 million

On 2 May 1670 Charles II chartered the "Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay." Prince Rupert was its first governor, and Rupert's Land is named after him. The bay was named for Henry Hudson. On 23 June 1611 mutineers set Hudson adrift with his son John and seven others. In 1618 four survivors were tried for murder and acquitted. Under the Deed of Surrender of 19 November 1869, Canada paid the company £300,000. The company kept the right, for 50 years, to claim up to one-twentieth of the land in the Fertile Belt, plus blocks of up to 50,000 acres around its posts. The Métis of Red River were not consulted and halted Canadian surveys. The transfer took effect on 15 July 1870. Hudson's Bay filed for creditor protection on 7 March 2025. Its 96 stores closed by 1 June 2025, and 9,364 staff lost their jobs. In June 2025 Justice Peter Osborne approved the sale of the Bay name, coat of arms and stripes to Canadian Tire for $30 million. In August 2025 the company was renamed 1242939 B.C. Unlimited Liability Co. At an auction on 3 December 2025, a joint $18 million bid from Weston and Thomson family holding companies won the charter. Osborne approved the sale on 11 December 2025. The families are donating the charter to the Archives of Manitoba, the Manitoba Museum, the Canadian Museum of History and the Royal Ontario Museum.