Chewy was founded under the name "Mr. Chewy" in June 2011 by Ryan Cohen[3] and Michael Day.[4] In March 2012, the company estimated a total yearly revenue of $26 million, despite losing money in its first half year.[4][5] By 2017, the company had revenue of approximately $2 billion and 51% of online pet food sales in the US.[6][7] At that time, CEO Ryan Cohen prepared to take Chewy public as both Petco and PetSmart approached with merger offers.[8] Petco's offer would be paid for in part using stock, whereas PetSmart offered an all-cash bid that would also allow Chewy to remain a completely separate business.[9] In 2017, Chewy was purchased by PetSmart, a retail entity backed by private equity firm BC Partners,[10] for $3.35 billion, which at the time was the largest ever acquisition of an e-commerce business.[9]
Following the acquisition, Cohen remained CEO and operated the business largely as an independent unit of PetSmart.[11] Between 2017 and 2018, Chewy’s sales increased from $2.1 billion to $3.5 billion,[12] with 66% of sales coming from customers signed up for automatic recurring shipments.[9] Sumit Singh succeeded Ryan Cohen as CEO of Chewy in March 2018.[13]
2019–present: Post-IPO
In 2019, Chewy filed an S-1 for an initial public offering, intending to trade under the ticker symbol CHWY. In its filing, Chewy reported a net loss of $268 million on total sales of $3.5 billion for its 2018 fiscal year.[14] In the 2019 fiscal year, Chewy earned net sales of $4.85 billion, a 40 percent year-over-year increase on a 52-week basis. The company saw increased demand from millions of existing and new customers as the business sustained growth throughout the economic disruption of the COVID-19 era.[15][16]
Chewy launched a free tele-triage service called Connect With a Vet in October 2020.[17] In November 2020, Chewy announced that it would produce and fulfill orders of customized prescription medications, commonly referred to as compounding, for instances where commercial alternatives are absent.[18] In 2020, it was announced that Chewy and PetSmart would split to operate as separate companies.[19]
In March 2021, Chewy reported revenue of $2.04 billion for Q4 of 2020, making it Chewy's first quarter of net profitability, and net sales of $7.15 billion for the fiscal year.[20][21] In March 2022, Chewy reported net sales of $8.89 billion for the 2021 fiscal year.[22]
In August 2022, Chewy announced the introduction of the CarePlus program, which provides pet insurance and wellness plans. This initiative marked Chewy's entry into the health insurance sector for pets.[23]
In the 2022 fiscal year, Chewy's net sales grew 13.6% since 2021, to $10.1 billion.[24] Following this, in December 2023, Chewy expanded its healthcare services by launching Chewy Vet Care. This service includes the establishment of veterinary practices that offer routine check-ups, urgent care, and surgical procedures.[25]
In fiscal year 2023, Chewy reported net sales of $11.15 billion representing 10.2% year-over-year growth primarily driven by increased spending from both new and existing customers, strength of Chewy's Autoship subscription program and growth of Chewy's pet healthcare business.[26]
Corporate affairs
The company's founder and first CEO, Ryan Cohen, stated that he used Jeff Bezos's 1997 letter to shareholders as a roadmap for how to grow Chewy by using Amazon's guidelines on the convenience of shopping online and customer service.[27] Cohen stepped down in March 2018,[28] and Sumit Singh was named the company's CEO in March 2018 after working as its COO since 2017 and previously as an executive at Dell and Amazon.[29][30][31][32] Singh led the company through its IPO; Chewy grew to a market capitalization of $40 billion. The company reported to have employed around 7,000 people in the United States in 2018 and more than 12,000 by 2019.[33][34] The company has more than 18,000 employees in the United States as of 2021.[35] Chewy is chaired by Raymond Svider of BC Partners. The private equity firm continues to own around 80percent of Chewy following the latter's IPO, representing 98percent of the voting power.[36]
