Spanx-Blackstone deal: Shapewear brand now valued at $1.2 billion
The private equity firm will take a majority stake in the brand, the two companies…
“This is a really important moment in time for female entrepreneurs,” said Spanx founder Sara Blakely, who will keep a “significant” equity stake in the business and become its executive chairwoman. She has said that when she founded Spanx in 2000, she did so with $5,000 in savings.
“I started this company with no business experience and very little money, but I cared the most about the customer, and that gave me the courage to launch the company,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
The companies said the deal would allow Spanx to ramp up its online presence and “expand its global footprint,” as well as its product line.
Skims, the company founded in 2019 by Kim Kardashian West, is another prominent US shapewear brand.
“My dream is for there to be many more female inventors,” she said at the time. “We need the contribution of women.”
Blackstone and Spanx said Wednesday that they want to create an “all female” board of directors at the apparel firm.
