PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Skechers
Includes Skechers USA, SKX
footwear · Manhattan Beach, CA
- PE Firm
- 3G Capital →
- Year Acquired
- 2025
Skechers just went private for $9.4B in the biggest shoe LBO ever. The buyer is famous for gutting Kraft Heinz.
The PE Playbook
- 3G Capital took Skechers private for $9.4 billion, completing the deal in September 2025.
- Shares delisted from the NYSE on September 12, ending a 26-year run as a public company.
- It's the biggest take-private in footwear history, and one of the largest consumer-brand LBOs of 2025.
Since the Acquisition
- 3G acquired Kraft Heinz in 2015 and cut R&D so deeply that product innovation stalled — the company is now worth less than half its 2015 peak.
- Delisting from the NYSE means no more public financial reports, no quarterly numbers on staffing, store closures, or inventory health. Total opacity for consumers and employees.
- Analysts have projected double-digit price increases per mid-range sneaker once new tariff policies hit, and a debt-loaded PE owner has every incentive to pass those costs to customers rather than absorb them.
- After 3G acquired Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Kraft Heinz, each company saw mass layoffs and supplier cost squeezes — and consumer satisfaction scores dropped at all three.