SPANX welcomes Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, Bumble founder as new investors
Blackstone completed its announced majority investment in SPANX at a valuation of $1.2 billion
Fox Business Flash top headlines for November 18
Check out what's clicking on FoxBusiness.com.
Shapewear company SPANX Inc., on Thursday announced a new list of high-profile investors, including Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon and Bumble dating app founder Whitney Wolfe Herd.
The new investments come after global investment firm Blackstone completed its previously announced majority investment in SPANX at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
"I’m thrilled to welcome Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Whitney Wolfe Herd, G9 Ventures and Able Partners as investors of SPANX!" company founder and executive chairwoman Sara Blakely said in a Thursday statement. "This is an incredible, ‘pinch-me!’ full-circle moment because both Oprah and Reese have been longtime supporters of SPANX, and Whitney has been a gamechanger for women in business."
SPANX founder Sara Blakely speaks at the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Oct. 25, 2018, in New York City. (Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Fast Company)
Blakely added that Winfrey "was a big reason for SPANX’s early success when she named it one of her iconic ‘Favorite Things’ in 2000."
"To have the support of these smart, thoughtful, world-class female founders who have also disrupted their industries to elevate and support women means everything," Blakely said. "As we like to say at SPANX, ‘We’ve got your butt covered!’ With these new partnerships, that promise is as true as ever. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the brand – and most importantly – for our customers."
BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING: HERE ARE THE RETAILERS DROPPING EARLY DEALS
Blakely founded SPANX in 2000, when she took $5,000 in savings and designed the first SPANX undergarment in her apartment. Blackstone and SPANX intend to have an all-female board of directors, according to the retail company.
Oprah Winfrey at a press conference at the Four Seasons Hotel on Aug. 6, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Vera Anderson/WireImage)
"When Sara first came on the Oprah show to tell us about her idea for SPANX, I knew it was brilliant," Winfrey said in a Thursday statement. "We’d all been cutting off our panty hose for years! So from the moment I wore my first pair, they became a staple in my wardrobe. It’s remarkable the business that Sara and her team have created, with the comfort and support of all women at the heart of their creations, and I’m happy to be part of the evolution."
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS
Goldman & Sachs and Allen & Co. represented SPANX in the transaction. Blakely will continue to hold "a significant equity stake" in the company and oversee its operations, according to a press release.