PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
1-800 Contacts
Includes 1800 Contacts
Vision / Optical · Draper, UT
- PE Firm
- KKR →
- Year Acquired
- 2020
KKR paid $3.1 billion for the contacts giant that spent years in court over deals keeping rivals out of your search results.
What They Did
- KKR acquired 1-800 Contacts from AEA Investors in 2020 for approximately $3.1 billion.
- AEA Investors had owned the company since 2016 — KKR is the second PE firm in a row to control the largest online contacts seller.
Since the Acquisition
- The FTC ruled in 2018 that agreements with 14 rival sellers kept their ads out of your search results, hiding cheaper options — then a federal appeals court threw that ruling out in 2021, siding with the company.
- The agreements themselves were real: rivals settled trademark fights by promising not to bid on each other's names in search advertising, so what you saw when you searched for contacts was shaped by legal settlements, not open competition.
- The FTC argued customers likely paid more as a result; the company disputed it and won on appeal.
Sources
- FTC Rules Against 1-800 Contacts for Anticompetitive Practices(2018-11)
- KKR to Acquire DTC Pioneer 1-800 Contacts from AEA Investors(2020-10)
- U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit Vacates Final Order of the FTC in 1-800 Contacts Case(2021-06)
- KKR buys 1-800 Contacts for $3.1bn-plus as eCommerce and telemedicine take off(2020-09)
- AEA Acquires 1-800 Contacts(2016-01-22)