Deerfield-based Walgreens is in talks to sell the company to a private equity firm in a deal that could be done early next year, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
Walgreens Boots Alliance has been discussing a deal with New York-based Sycamore Partners, which specializes in retail and consumer investments, according to the report. The buyout would take the now publicly traded pharmacy chain private.
Walgreens, in an email to the Sun-Times on Tuesday, declined to comment on the report, saying, “We don’t comment about rumors or speculation about our business.” A spokesperson for Sycamore declined to comment.
Shares of the company jumped about 18% Tuesday in the wake of the news.
The report comes as the pharmacy chain — the second largest in the U.S. — has struggled in recent years.
In October, Walgreens announced it planned to close 1,200 stores over the next three years in the U.S., and it laid off around 250 employees in support center roles, including at its corporate offices in Deerfield and the Old Post Office building in the West Loop.
The layoffs were seen as necessary as Walgreens aims to “focus on our core retail pharmacy business,” a spokesperson said at the time.
Walgreens lost $8.64 billion in the 2024 fiscal year, or more than $10 per share.
The company’s net loss grew to more than $3 billion in the final quarter of its fiscal year, held back by lower U.S. retail and pharmacy sales. It also booked some hefty charges tied to opioid litigation settlements the company had recognized in previous quarters.
Walgreens expects adjusted earnings in the new fiscal year to be between $1.40 and $1.80 per share, with growth in its U.S. health care and international businesses countering the U.S. retail pharmacy decline.
In 2019, private equity firm KKR sought to buy out Walgreens when the company was valued at roughly $55 billion.
Walgreens lists 99 Chicago locations on its website. There are about 8,500 stores in the U.S. and a few thousand abroad.
The company also operates around 2,000 Boots retail and pharmacy stores in the United Kingdom.
Contributing: AP
