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Meet Peter Cancro, who just agreed to sell his submarine-sandwich chain to Blackstone in a deal that's made him one of the 500 richest people on the planet.
The founder and CEO of Jersey Mike's is now worth an estimated $7.5 billion, propelling him into 390th place on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Cancro ranks higher on the rich list than Netflix's Reed Hastings and eBay's Jeff Skoll — worth $7.2 billion each — and not far behind Giorgio Armani ($7.6 billion) and Mark Cuban ($7.9 billion).
Blackstone said Tuesday it had agreed to buy a majority stake in Jersey Mike's. Cancro will retain a sizable equity stake and still lead the company, Blackstone said.
Jersey Mike's has about 3,000 US locations that generated more than $3 billion of revenue in 2023, making it the second-largest sub-style sandwich chain after Subway. It's also known for its ad spots featuring actor Danny DeVito.
The company's story dates back to 1971 when Cancro, then a 14-year-old student, began working at a Jersey Shore sandwich shop called Mike's Subs. At age 17, he learned the owner wanted to sell so he bought the business with the help of a $125,000 loan from his football coach.
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Cancro changed the company's name to Jersey Mike's when he began franchising in 1987. He later rolled out a program to help store managers become franchise owners, which he named after his old coach.
Blackstone's deal values the sandwich chain at about $8 billion including debt, and includes an earnout agreement whereby the full price is only paid after Jersey Mike's expands to 4,000 stores, an unnamed source told Reuters.
The world's largest alternative asset manager — with more than $1.1 trillion of assets under management — has snapped up other franchisors in the past including Hilton Hotels, Tropical Smoothie Cafe, and 7Brew.
