Who Owns Chewy? (BC Partners? It's Not That Simple)

Chewy is a popular online retailer specializing in pet products. You must have purchased or seen its pet products or seen them online, especially if you have a pet. Has it ever crossed your mind who owns Chewy? Well, in this article, we will take a closer look into its ownership; keep reading.

Chewy is a public company. It neither belongs to an individual nor a company. Although the company was acquired in 2017 at a historic $3.35 billion offer for an online retailer at the time, the company is trading publicly on the New York Stocks Exchange under the ticker CHWY. Anyone can own shares in the company, but the current majority shareholder is the private equity BC Partners, with a total of 314 million shares of the 415 million total shares.

Table Of Contents

Who Owns Chewy?

Initially, Chewy was owned by its co-founders, entrepreneur Ryan Cohen and Michael Day, until 2017, when PetSmart acquired it. In 2019 PetSmart diluted a portion of its stake to its parent company BC Partners which is private equity. Later in 2020, PetSmart announced the sale of the remaining shares; thus, it's trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange.

While BC Partners are the majority shareholders with 314 million shares out of the 415 million shares of Chewy, there are other major shareholders, including;

Baillie Gifford $ Co who comes second with 13.3 million shares,
Morgan Stanley with 8.96 million shares, FMR LLC with 7.7 million shares,
Brown Advisory comes fifth with 7.07million shares, Vanguard Group with 6.9 million shares,
while Macquarie Group owns 4.86 million shares, Wellington Management Group holds a share of 4.5 million shares,
Goldman Sachs has 3.12 million shares
In the tenth position is Ameriprise Financial, with 2.26 million shares, among others.

The History of Chewy?

Chewy is an Animal feeds and Accessories company founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day as an online store, and they named it Mr Chewy. It is based in Plantation, Florida, with several other branch offices in parts of the United States and over 1600 stores across North America. O

ver the years, the company has constantly grown, and by 2015, it had the largest market share of online pet feeds and related products in the United States by 51%. Furthermore, it had generated a revenue of about $2B. Seeing the competitiveness of the company, Petco and PetSmart offered to acquire the company, and in May 2017 and PetSmart won the bid, having offered $3.35 billion in cash.

By 2018 under the ownership of PetSmart, the company realized a net profit of $1.4 billion. Within the same year, it sold 20% of its stock to BC Partners and $ 16.5 to unrestricted subsidiaries. By April 2019, the company was trading publicly after its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange, where it looks forward to selling all its stocks to anyone willing. You can also acquire some shares in Chewy to hold or sell off later.

When Was Chewy Sold?

Chewy was sold in 2017 for $3.35 billion, which was the highest-ever offer for an e-commerce business at the time. To date its, the largest e-commerce acquisition. But, company's operations remained as before the acquisition; the only thing changed was the ownership.

Why Did PetSmart Buy Chewy?

From the history of Chewy, you can see that the company is a market leader and has demonstrated an upward trajectory profit-wise. As obvious, anyone could be interested in owning such a business, so PetSmart took advantage of it. Besides, PetSmart was in the same market as Chewy, but Chewy demonstrated to be competitive and by acquiring such a company, PetSmart could own a large market share.

Did Petco Buy Chewy?

PetSmart had the last laugh in the acquisition of Chewy but not Petco. Although Petco was the first to show the intention to acquire Chewy, they were denied the acquisition. Why? Petco wanted to pay part of the money using stocks and would take over the company's operations. On the other hand, PetSmart offered the whole amount in cash and would maintain the operations of Chewy as they were before. So, it lost the bid to PetSmart.

Does Amazon Own Chewy?

Amazon does not own Chewy, but it could be a shareholder. Most people speculate that Amazon owns Chewy, but as we've discussed earlier, Chewy is neither owned by an individual nor a company. Chewy is a publicly-traded company on New York Stock Exchange, and anyone can purchase stocks to become part of the shareholders, just like The Brown Advisory and Goldman Sachs, among others. The major shareholder of Chewy is BC Partners.

Funny enough! Amazon and Chewy are competitors. Both are online retailers, and they deal with pet products. Amazon has an Amazon Pets service product line that deals with animal feeds and accessories; thus, Chewy cannot be linked to Amazon as it is a stand-alone brand with a high competitive advantage over Amazon Pets Service thanks to its distinct services that have gained the competitive advantages over other online stores in the same market.

Amazon is equally a reputable brand; you can compare product and service preferences and prices and take advantage of offers (when available) between the two stores.

Does Walmart own Chewy?

Similarly to Amazon, Walmart and Chewy are competitors. Walmart is an online store that deals in a variety of pet supplies. Walmart owns Jet and Sam's Club, so they are direct competitors as they both deal with pet feeds and accessories and retail online. Comparing the two, Chewy has a wide variety of pet products, but it's a bit more expensive than Walmart.

Does Ryan Cohen Own Chewy?

Ryan Cohen is the co-founder and the former CEO of Chewy, but he left the company in 2018 after PetSmart acquired it. Currently, he is the chairman of GameStop.

Why Did PetSmart Sell Chewy?

As indicated earlier, PetSmart held the shares for a short time before the company began trading publicly. So, why did PetSmart sell Chewy? PetSmart announced the sale of Chewy to raise more operational funds and clear its debts.

Why is Chewy So Successful?

To begin with, when Chewy was founded, it hired former employees and executives of its competitors and reputable brands like Amazon, Walmart, and Whole Foods, among others. It's no doubt they were experienced, having worked in such prominent companies, and therefore, with experience they had, they were able to take Chewy to greater heights.

Chewy’s Success can also be attributed to the services it offers. Besides having a large selection of pet products, Chewy offers distinct and innovative services such as virtual veterinarian consultancy services, the recently launched medical insurance for pets in partnership with CarePlus, customized animal feeds (fresh and prepared meals for pets with a specific diet), overnight delivery services and last but not least the automatic recurring shipments feature contributed about 66% of its annual profit in 2021.

Conclusion

PetSmart’s parent company BC Partners is the major shareholder of Chewy amongst individuals and groups that own part of its 415 million shares. Therefore, it has the majority voting shares, but PetSmart operates independently, and Chewy operates as a subsidiary of PetSmart. With the help of PetSmart, Chewy has grown and become one of the leading online pet stores.