On the record · Other
Red Lobster
Golden Gate Capital's sale-leaseback stripped Red Lobster of real estate assets, saddling it with unaffordable lease obligations. Filed Chapter 11 in 2024.
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.
Date not recorded
What happened under and after ownership
Operating outcome
Operating through distress or restructuring
Filed Chapter 11 in May 2024, closing about 50 of its restaurants while the remaining locations continued operating.
Sold in September 2024 for $375 million to RL Investor Holdings, an entity led by Fortress Investment Group; operated 545 locations at the time of sale.
- Founded
- 1968
- Peak headcount
- 55,000
- Sponsor at closure
- Thai Union Group
- Cause
- Sale-leaseback · with debt left at exit
- Fortress Investment Group · 2024 · sale terms, store count, new ownership
- Wikipedia · Red Lobster was founded January 18, 1968 in Lakeland, Florida; approximately 55,000 employees; Thai Union Group held full ownership (after buying out Golden Gat
- Restaurant Dive · Golden Gate Capital's 2014 sale-leaseback of about 500 Red Lobster properties to American Realty Capital Properties (later VEREIT) for $1.5 billion converted ow
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.
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