Walgreens, the struggling drugstore chain, is going private. On Thursday, the company announced that it had signed a deal with Sycamore Partners, a private equity group, to remove it from the public market for an estimated $10 billion in stock value. Sycamore will give Walgreens $11.45 in cash for each share. The sale of Walgreens’ primary-care companies, such as Village Medical, Summit Health, and CityMD, could increase shareholder profits by up to $3 per share. Walgreens stated that when debt and potential future dividends are taken into account, the transaction’s overall value could reach $23.7 billion.
Walgreens will now be privatized in a $10 billion deal
The take-private agreement between Walgreens and Sycamore is anticipated to be finalized in the fourth quarter of this year. Before being stopped, Walgreens’ stock increased by over 5% during Thursday’s after-hours trading. It is important to note that the historic transaction puts an end to Walgreens’ turbulent 1927–1930 period as a publicly traded firm. Although the company’s stock was up more than 15% for 2025 as of Thursday morning, it had lost more than 48% for the previous year and 70% for the previous three. Despite the company’s progress toward its ambitious recovery plan, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth, who took over the role in 2023, stated in a release issued Thursday that “a private corporation is better suited to handle the time, attention, and change required for substantial value generation.”Â
The knowledge and experience of a partner with a proven track record of successful retail turnarounds will be made available to us by Sycamore. In the press announcement, Sycamore’s managing director, Stefan Kaluzny, stated that the deal shows the company’s faith in the pharmacy-led business model and its crucial role in improving patient, customer, and community results. Chicago will continue to be the location of Walgreens’ corporate office. According to the statement, the company presently employs over 310,000 people worldwide and has 12,500 retail pharmacy sites in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Walgreens continues to schedule its April 8 earnings report for the second quarter.
What you need to know about the future of WalgreensÂ
The American company currently employs 310,000 people and operates 12,500 retail pharmacy sites throughout the US, Europe, and Latin America. It makes sense that neither Walgreens nor Sycamore is speaking, but the Gimlet Eye can make some educated judgments. There will undoubtedly be significant changes to its retail footprint by 2026. With the smallest or least strategically positioned stores closing first and perhaps what’s left of Duane Reade closed, their 5,000 planned store closures may seem insignificant in comparison to what is about to happen.
For this reason, there will be a corresponding reduction in staff, and one should expect challenges on the pharmacy side, where there has already been considerable management and staffing turmoil. Other assets, including CareCentrix, Shields Health Solutions, the remaining 6% of their Cencora interests, Boots No. 7 Beauty, and Boots in the UK, will be sold off or spun off, as TTA previously stated. It’s difficult to guarantee that, given the usually poor performance of retail PE and the aforementioned tendencies, there will be enough nearby Walgreens (or Boots) to visit for a prescription or Band-Aids in a year or two.Â
Because of the way it turned around Staples, Talbots, and other companies, Sycamore Partners is well-recognized in that field. The private equity model’s profitability and return on investment in covering management fees, debt service, and asset selloffs, as well as the unexpected ways in which Sycamore assembled their funding and debt financing for Walgreens, make this an intriguing period for those of us who follow the healthcare industry.
