PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Chewy
Includes Chewy.com, CHWY
pet e-commerce · Plantation, FL
- PE Firm
- BC Partners →
- Acquirer
- BC Partners (via PetSmart)
- Year Acquired
- 2017
BC Partners bought PetSmart, used Chewy as the escape hatch, and still won't let go.
What They Did
- BC Partners acquired PetSmart for $8.7 billion in 2015, then used PetSmart to buy Chewy for $3.35 billion in 2017 — funded by piling another $2 billion onto PetSmart's already crushing debt
- IPO'd Chewy in June 2019 at $22/share, raising $1.02 billion — BC Partners effectively used Chewy's value to bail out the sinking PetSmart investment
- Split Chewy from PetSmart in a $6 billion restructuring announced in 2020 and closed in February 2021 — BC Partners still held roughly 79% of Chewy's shares, 'independent' in name only
- As of 2025, BC Partners still holds approximately 42% of Chewy and maintains board influence — they've been slowly selling down while the stock absorbs the overhang
Since the Acquisition
- Chewy's customer experience has held up well — autoship, 24/7 support, and handwritten pet sympathy cards survived the PE ownership era
- The real consumer damage landed on PetSmart: saddled with billions in debt to fund the Chewy acquisition, PetSmart stores saw staffing cuts, longer wait times, and declining store conditions
- Chewy's prices have crept up steadily, with customers reporting autoship discounts shrinking and free shipping thresholds rising — small cuts that add up for pet owners on tight budgets
- The company that started as a scrappy pet-parent favorite now operates primarily as a financial vehicle for its PE owners — it works for now, but long-term investment in the customer experience takes a back seat to shareholder returns
Sources
- Chewy Announces $500 Million Repurchase of Shares from BC Partners — Chewy IR(2024-12-18)
- BC Partners to Split PetSmart, Chewy in $6 Billion Recap Deal — Axios(2020-10-23)
- Chewy, PetSmart's online business, soars after IPO pricing — CNBC(2019-06-14)
- Chewy, Inc. Form 10-K for fiscal 2021 — SEC EDGAR(2022-03-29)
- Chewy, Inc. 2021 Proxy Statement (DEF 14A) — SEC EDGAR(2021-05-27)