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🔴 PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
JOANN
arts & crafts · Hudson, OH
PE Firm
Leonard Green & Partners
Year Acquired
2011
“Bankrupt twice in ten months. Leonard Green stitched together a masterpiece of destruction.”
The PE Playbook
- •Leonard Green acquired JOANN for $1.6B in 2011 and loaded it with over $1B in debt; stock lost 99% of value between 2021 and 2024
- •Filed Chapter 11 on March 18, 2024 — then filed a second Chapter 11 on January 15, 2025, less than a year later
- •All stores closed and 19,000 employees laid off after the second bankruptcy; assets sold to a liquidator
- •Leonard Green also bankrupted The Container Store (Dec 2024) and Prospect Medical (Jan 2024) within a single year
Since the Acquisition
- ▸Filed for bankruptcy TWICE — March 2024, then again January 2025 — after Leonard Green saddled the company with $1 billion in debt (from zero debt pre-acquisition)
- ▸All 500+ stores closed permanently by May 2025; all 19,000 employees laid off — the company ceased to exist
- ▸Leonard Green paid itself millions in annual management fees while the company struggled under its debt load