TOMS Lands Major Investment From Bain CapitalBlake Mycoskie will keep a 50 percent stake in the social-good shoe startup he founded.
ByJason Fell•
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Today is a big day for social-good shoe startupTOMS. The company said it has signed a "definitive agreement to partner" with Boston-based private investment firm Bain Capital. While financial terms of the agreement weren't disclosed, reports say Bain acquireda 50-percent stakein the company.
TOMS founder Blake Mycoskie will retain ownership of the other 50 percent, TOMS confirmed.
Founded in 2006, Los Angeles-based TOMS became regarded for its One-for-One program, by which the company donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair it sells. Today, the TOMS brand also includes TOMS Eyewear and TOMS Roasting Co.
“八个几年,我们已经令人难以置信的成功s, and now we need a strategic partner who shares our bold vision for the future and can help us realize it," Mycoskie said in a press release. Mycoskie will apparently give away half of his profits from this transaction by establishing a fund that "identifies and supports" social entrepreneurship programs.
Bain Capital, of course, is looking to up its charitable involvement. The firm has had a bad rap over the years as a group ofheartless robber barons. Its involvement with TOMS presumably couldn't hurt.
