Les Schwab family to sell tire company
Dec 26, 2019, 7:58 AM | Updated: 8:40 am
File photo. (Oregon Department of Transportation via Creative Commons/Flickr)
(Oregon Department of Transportation via Creative Commons/Flickr)
A Northwest institution for decades, Lew Schwab tire company is looking for a buyer.
The Oregonian confirmed on Tuesday that the company had hired Goldman Sachs to find a buyer. Bloomberg News reports that the sale could be done for $3 billion.
Les Schwab started his company with a single store in 1952. Before he died in 2007, he grew his empire across the Pacific Northwest.
Schwab told the Oregonian in 1997 he would keep the business within in the family.
“This company isn’t for sale. It will go on, bigger and better than ever and continue to provide opportunities for young people to be successful. All the stock will remain in our family.”
With the death of his daughter, who served as a board member, in 2006, the tire business was passed down to Schwab’s grandchildren.
On Tuesday, the company, led by CEO Jack Cuniff, released a statement, published in the Oregonian:
“Given the complexities of a fifth-generation family business, and managing a company of our size, we are at an important point in the life of Les Schwab Tire Centers,” they wrote. “As our family grows and ages, it is increasingly critical to us that ownership remain committed and aligned behind our grandfather’s vision.”
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