Spanx—Founded With $5,000—Is Now Worth $1.2 Billion in Blackstone Deal

Quartz

A deal valuing Spanx at $1.2 billion was brokered by an all-female team

The shapewear company Spanx, known for its body-slimming undergarments, is worth an estimated $1.2 billion following the investment firm Blackstone’s decision to purchase a majority stake in the company. CEO Sara Blakely, who started Spanx with just $5,000 in 2000 and became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire in 2012, worked on the deal with an all-female team led by Blackstone managing director Ann Chung, as the Wall Street Journal first reported. Spanx models itself as a company “for women, by women,” as it says on its website, and Blakely committed in 2013 to giving away at least half her wealth to charity with the intention of investing in women.