Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon Invest In Spanx
Talkshow host Oprah Winfrey and actress Reese Witherspoon are among the new investors in Spanx, which just sold a majority stake to funds managed by Blackstone Inc.
Some of the other new investors in the company include Whitney Wolfe Herd, as well as female-founded investment funds G9 Ventures, which was launched by Amy Griffin and Able Partners.
The deal, which was announced late last month, raised the womenswear brand’s to $1.2 billion.
“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,” Spanx founder Sara Blakely in a press release.
“Oprah was a big reason for SPANX’s early success when she named it one of her iconic ‘Favorite Things’ in 2000,” she added.
Blakely launched Spanx in 2000 with the goal of taking on the male-dominated shapewear and undergarment industry. She started off by investing $5000 in inventing the first SPANX undergarment in her apartment and writing her own patent. Blakely went on to turn the company into a global clothing powerhouse.
“When Sara first came on The Oprah Show to tell us about her idea for SPANX, I knew it was brilliant. We’d all been cutting off our pantyhose 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,” Winfrey said.
Originally published at https://retailbum.com on November 18, 2021.
