Spanx, Inc.

Who owns Spanx?

Blackstone Inc. holds a majority stake acquired in October 2021 at a $1.2 billion valuation. Founder Sara Blakely retains a minority stake and serves as executive chairwoman, with co-investors including Oprah Winfrey and Reese Witherspoon.

Is Spanx publicly traded?

No. Spanx is private. Its majority owner, Blackstone Inc., trades on the NYSE under ticker BX, but Spanx itself is not separately listed.

How much did Blackstone pay for Spanx?

Blackstone acquired a majority stake in October 2021 at a $1.2 billion valuation, roughly 15 times estimated annual profits at the time.

When was Spanx founded?

Sara Blakely founded the company in Atlanta in February 2000 with $5,000 in savings, starting with footless control-top pantyhose she prototyped and patented herself.

Does Sara Blakely still run Spanx?

No. Blakely serves as executive chairwoman and retains a minority stake but is no longer involved in daily operations. Caroline "Cricket" Whitton has been CEO since 2024.

What does Spanx sell besides shapewear?

The product range now spans leggings, bras, denim, loungewear including AirEssentials, activewear, swimwear, and hosiery, with apparel categories now representing the growth strategy.

Sara Blakely founded the company in Atlanta in February 2000 with $5,000 in savings from selling fax machines door to door. She wrote her own patent for footless control-top pantyhose, cold-called mills until a North Carolina manufacturer agreed to produce it, and landed Neiman Marcus as the first retailer through a personal pitch.

Oprah Winfrey's November 2000 Favorite Things selection, eight months after launch, made the company an overnight phenomenon. Blakely grew without outside investment or traditional advertising, reaching an estimated $400 million in annual sales by the late 2010s and landing on the cover of Forbes in 2012 as the youngest self-made female billionaire.

The company expanded beyond shapewear throughout the 2010s into bras, leggings, denim, activewear, and loungewear, transforming from a single-category brand into a women's apparel business. International growth through department stores and e-commerce extended the reach beyond North America.

October 2021 brought the first capital event: Blackstone acquired a majority stake at a $1.2 billion valuation through an all-female investment team, with Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Whitney Wolfe Herd, and female-founded funds G9 Ventures and Able Partners investing alongside. Blakely retained a meaningful minority stake and moved to executive chairwoman, and the board was structured as all-female.

CEO transitions followed the deal: Caroline "Cricket" Whitton took the role in 2024 with retail veteran Jeanne Jackson as executive chair. Performance under Blackstone has been challenging. Reporting indicates sales have softened, EBITDA has returned toward the $80 million level of the acquisition era, and US direct sales excluding wholesale have declined year over year, leaving the growth thesis still in progress under Whitton's leadership.

The company's sustainability profile is modest for a consumer brand of its scale. It holds no B Corp certification, and its product base in nylon, spandex, and synthetics carries the environmental footprint inherent to stretch fabrics.

It has introduced recycled-content products and reduced packaging in portions of the range, and operates a supplier code of conduct across its contract factories, though detailed sustainability disclosure is limited compared with public apparel companies.

The company's ethics narrative has historically rested on its female-founded story and governance structure rather than environmental credentials, and labor standards follow the industry norm of supplier audits across Asian contract manufacturing.

Spanx's recognition centers on its founder and product. Sara Blakely is one of the most celebrated entrepreneurs in American retail: Forbes' youngest self-made female billionaire cover, Time's 100 Most Influential People, and the Giving Pledge.

The product itself entered design canon: the OnCore high-waisted short is in the Museum of Modern Art's design collection since 2017, and MoMA's 2025 exhibition Pirouette: Turning Points in Design featured Spanx among design milestones. Product reviews consistently rank its shapewear at the top of the category it created.

Performance under Blackstone: Reporting in 2025 and 2026 documented that sales have softened since the acquisition and that the $1.2 billion valuation now looks rich relative to an EBITDA roughly flat with the purchase era, raising questions about the PE exit path.

Competitive displacement: The rise of Skims is a business reality rather than a scandal, but the speed with which the category creator lost cultural leadership is the central strategic fact about the company today.

Founder distance: Blakely's reduced operational role post-sale has produced periodic coverage questioning brand direction without its founder's daily involvement.