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Bain

Page history last edited by Mike 15 years ago

Prior to his Olympic service, Mitt Romney enjoyed a successful career helping businesses grow and improve their operations. From 1978 to 1984, Mr. Romney was a Vice President at Bain & Company, Inc., a leading management consulting firm. In 1984, Romney founded Bain Capital, one of the nation's most successful venture capital and investment companies. Bain Capital helped guide hundreds of companies on a successful course, including Staples, Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Domino's Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, and The Sports Authority. He was asked to return to Bain & Company as CEO several years later in order to lead a financial restructuring of the organization. Today, Bain & Company employs more than 2,000 people in 25 offices worldwide.

How Mitt Romney Saved Bain & Company

Governor Romney's message of strengthening America's economy not only in the short term but also in the long run, as we face increased competition from Asia, has really resonated with voters. This video shows Governor Romney's business colleague, Kelt Kindick, describing how Mitt rescued Bain & Company, a consulting firm that was on the verge of collapse. Kindick later served in Gov. Romney's administration as the Massachusetts' CFO.

"Searched"

Robert Gay, a former business partner of Governor Romney, recounts the story of his daughter who disappeared in New York City in the summer of 1996. When no one could find her, Governor Romney and his colleagues stepped forward and closed down their company in Boston, Bain Capital. Together, they headed to New York City to aid the search. Spreading out across the city, they set up command centers, combed through neighborhoods, passed out fliers and drew media attention to the case. Through their efforts, Robert Gay was reunited with his daughter. This ad is their story.

In the News

Jun 04, 2007; Romney's Political Fortunes Tied To Riches He Gained In Business

Boston Business Journal: Romney "Made His Name As A Turnaround Man." "Bain & Co. was a crowning victory for Romney, 47, who has made his name as a turnaround man. As chief executive of Bain Capital Inc., the venture group he was picked to launch back in 1984, he has backed and helped repair more than 50 companies. With an initial $14 million invested by the partners of Bain & Co., Bain Capital has since raised $500 million in four funds, pouring dollars into companies like Staples Inc., Brookstone and The Sports Authority." (Beth Healy, "Romney Puts Skills In Business To Test," Boston Business Journal, 6/10/94)

The Boston Globe's Robert Gavin And Sacha Pfeiffer: "In time, Romney would lead the shaky start-up from a staff of seven people managing $37 million to 115 people managing $4 billion in assets. During Romney's 15-year tenure, Bain Capital would post an astonishing record, on average doubling its return on realized investments every year." (Robert Gavin and Sacha Pfeiffer, "Reaping Profit In Study, Sweat," The Boston Globe, 6/26/07)

Mister Powerpoint Goes To Washington

"Look at the invoices! "That's what Tom Stemberg, then a fledgling entrepreneur, told Mitt Romney in 1985. Romney was the head of a new venture firm, Bain Capital, and was skeptical of Stemberg's idea of launching a chain of office-supply stores. Romney had called 100 businesses in the Boston area and found that they were spending far less on pens, paperclips, and the like than Stemberg was claiming in his business plan.

May 14, 2007; Mitt Romney Rises To The Top
Dec 26, 2007; Romney Is the Real Deal

Ann Romney: Mitt Has Always Been Pro-Life; "'It's a match made in heaven between Mitt and Ann,' says Fraser Bullock, who was one of the seven partners who started Bain Capital with Romney and later served as chief operating officer of the Winter Olympics. 'They go along so well together, they're very like-minded. Ann is incredibly wise and perceptive in her own right.'"

Tue May 22 2007

Jim Cramer On Being Interviewed By Governor Romney:

Cramer: "And then there was the second man, the man I'm about to bring on, who perhaps more than any recruiter I ever met influenced me toward a new career. That man's name is Mitt Romney. He was working at Bain at the time, the top consulting company in the country. And he sat down with me, not that he would ever remember, and grilled me about what I could bring to the Bain party. He quizzed me about going around the globe fixing companies worldwide and about how I could assess companies on returns, on equity returns on investments, present value of the earnings stream, how earnings could be augmented. Synergy. I listened as he asked in his intense, eye-piercing way, rattling off questions like a Gatling gun, asked me perhaps the most difficult inquiries I've ever been grilled about. At the end of the meeting, I'd made up my mind. The guy was just too darn smart and demanding, too way ahead of me, too rigorous a businessman for Cramer! I was, in a word, intimidated!

"I'm trying to think about another time in my life that I've ever had that experience. Anyway, he made my mind up. I was going, not to Bain, but to Goldman. That's why I had no problem when I was on Chris Matthews? show recently and called him perhaps the best businessman in the country. It was personal experience. Now, the quote's been enshrined in the businessman's ads, caused me some grief, and I must add amusement, because I didn't mean it as an endorsement for anyone for president. I just meant to tell the truth about his rigor, acumen and ability."

To watch Governor Romney, please see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5JZCvLGQMc

Members Of The Florida Statewide Finance Committee:
- William W. Bain, Founder of Bain & Co., and Co-Founder of Bain Capital, Boston & Naples

Comments

I agree with Stephen. I am voting for your dad BECAUSE of Bain, because I know only people with the utmost intelligence, integrity, and innovation get to work at a firm like that. Your dad not only worked there, he ran the place.
- Posted by Lauren at 2007-11-30 15:40:30

"...After watching him rescue Bain and Co., run a successful investment company, turn around the 2002 Olympics, and fix the budget mess in Massachusetts, I don’t think there is anyone better qualified to help lead our economy and our nation going forward."
- Tag Romney, 2008-01-09

Links

http://www.bain.com/bainweb/home.asp

http://newsmax.com/romney/?PROMO_CODE=291F-1

...

Convinced that being a consultant would prepare him to be a top manager, Romney joined Boston Consulting Group. In 1978, Bain & Co., another management consulting company, lured him away and named him vice president. His colleagues included future eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

While he was successful, Romney's role of recommending strategy rather than implementing it frustrated him. He was about to join a Chicago corporation when William Bain, the founder of Bain & Co., persuaded him to start a sister company where Romney would have operational control.

After raising $37 million in startup funds, Romney founded Bain Capital, a venture capital firm, in 1984. For the most part, the company looked for troubled companies that had good potential if management was improved.

Romney had an eye for identifying future success. Notable was Romney's investment in Staples, which had not yet opened its first office supply store.

...

Bain Capital went on to help launch or acquire Domino's Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, and The Sports Authority. Each time Romney looked into an opportunity, he submerged himself in data, analyzed the business, and then was willing to take risks if his instincts told him he was on the right track.

Because of these and other successful investments, Bain Capital now manages $40 billion.

By 1990, Bain & Co., the mother ship, was in dire straits because of excess debt. Founder William Bain asked Romney to return to the company as interim CEO to straighten things out.

Romney tightened expenses, renegotiated loans, and improved morale. He returned the company to profitability within a year before returning to lead Bain Capital.

Also See

http://www.bain.com/bainweb/home.asp

Bain and Company

The House that Mitt built by David Snow, Private Equity International, September, 2007. This investigative report is a MUST READ to better appreciate Mitt Romney's outstanding leadership style and skills during his years working in the private sector.
- Mitt Romney, the talented and charismatic former head of Bain Capital, is running for president of the United States. Those who worked with him during his private-sector years in the 1980s and 1990s describe a consulting superstar who succeeded in private equity while presiding, pater familias-like [Latin for "father of the family"], over a team of notably aggressive and ambitious investment professionals. David Snow examines Romney’s legacy at Bain Capital and the leadership characteristics of a man who may be the next American president.

http://blog.electromneyin2008.com/2007/09/05/the-house-that-mitt-built/

• "Mitt had hired me as a young associate at Bain & Co. in 1978, and we worked together occasionally between then and 1983, when we laid the foundations for the creation of Bain Capital. For six months, we traipsed around the United States, Europe and Latin America, seeking investors to back our plan, getting plenty of "no, thank yous" along the way. One potential investor was concerned that we would spend lavishly on fancy offices and needless expenses. I could tell that this bothered Mitt, because he is very careful about spending. Finally, I told the gentleman: "You need to understand how frugal Mitt is. When he and Ann go to the movies, they pop their own popcorn in advance. Mitt figures the home-popped Orville Redenbacher costs him only 62 cents, which is a whole lot cheaper than $4.50 for the big tub at the movie counter."