On the record · Other
Gymboree
Bain's $1.8B LBO loaded $1.2B in debt. Interest exceeded operating profit. Filed bankruptcy twice, liquidated all 1,280 stores. 11,000+ workers lost jobs.
Also known as The Gymboree Corporation
Research depth
Outcomes researched
Reviewed operating findings or a classified operating outcome are available.
Record updated Sept. 4, 2026
Current ownership
Current owner not established
This record does not identify a current owner. That absence is a gap in the record, not a conclusion about ownership.
1 ownership record has an unresolved current/former status.
Ownership and transaction history
Chronology from recorded ownership periods, transactions and reviewed outcome events. Event order does not imply causation.
Jan. 1, 2019
Operations ceased
Operating outcome
Jan. 1, 2020
Revival or successor activity recorded
Operating outcome
Date not recorded
What happened under and after ownership
Operating outcome
Ceased operations, then returned
Gymboree Group liquidated all roughly 800 Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores after a January 2019 bankruptcy filing.
The Children's Place bought the Gymboree and Crazy 8 intellectual property for $76 million in March 2019 and relaunched Gymboree in January 2020 as a website and in-store area within its own stores.
Operated as a brand within The Children's Place; no standalone Gymboree store exists.
- Founded
- 1976
- Sponsor at closure
- Bain Capital
- Cause
- Debt left at exit
- CNBC · 2019 · Children's Place IP purchase
- CoStar · 2024 · January 2020 relaunch as store-in-store and website; November 2024 physical store opening confirms the brand is still active within The Children's Place
- Wikipedia · founded 1976; Bain Capital acquired Gymboree in 2010 and remained the owner through the January 2019 liquidation bankruptcy
- Kirkland & Ellis LLP · Bain Capital's 2010 leveraged buyout loaded Gymboree with approximately $1.47 billion in debt, about 70% of the acquisition cost, which drove the 2017 Chapter 1
What we do not know
These are gaps in the public record, not findings about the organization.
- No current public ownership assessment has been published.
Help improve this record
Firsthand experience, public sources and corrections can help close the gaps above.