Walgreens is one of the most well-known drugstore chains in the U.S., having become American families' go-to place to obtain prescription and non-prescription medication since 1901.
From opening the first Walgreens location nearly 124 years ago to inventing the first malted milkshake in 1922 and going public in 1927, the company had only been prosperous.
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In 2014, Walgreens joined forces with the UK-based pharmacy chain Boots to form the Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA), which became a powerful global health and wellness company with multiple brands and thousands of pharmacies and retailers worldwide.
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However, this merger didn't pan out as well as Walgreens expected. After multiple decades of being a successful drugstore chain, it began to hit continuous slowdowns that quickly turned into a downward spiral.
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Walgreens and Boots merger leads to continuous struggles and multiple store closures
Since forming WBA (WBA) , Walgreens has had a tough time over the last decade. Its stock has tumbled, hitting one of its lowest declines, and the company has closed around 2,000 locations, with approximately 450 more stores shutting down in the near future.
Just this year, Walgreens was slammed with a lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations regarding the inappropriate selling of opioids. This controversial scandal led the company to suspend its quarterly dividend.
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In the last few years, WBA shifted its focus to grow its retail business by introducing new products, which it claims has been challenging due to the deterioration in consumer spending and inflation.
This caused its comparable U.S. retail sales for the first quarter of 2025 to decline 4.6% compared to last year.
WBA nears $10 billion deal to take Walgreens private
In December of last year, it was revealed that the private equity firm Sycamore Partners was in talks with WBA to acquire the company's U.S. retail business and take it off the public market, as it had been facing ongoing struggles.
On Monday, it was revealed that WBA is nearing closing a deal with Sycamore Partners to take Walgreens off the public market and make it private for around $10 billion amid ongoing struggles.
According to discussions, Sycamore would pay between $11.30 and $11.40 in cash per share.
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If the deal is finalized, Sycamore would own the entire WBA company. However, the private firm would keep the company's U.S. retail business, which includes Walgreens and Duane Reade, and sell the rest of the brands or keep them public.
This idea doesn't seem so farfetched since Sycamore has a history of splitting its acquired businesses. In 2017, the firm bought the office supply chain Staples and, within the same year, announced its plans to divide it into three sectors, which included U.S. retail, Canada, retail, and corporate supply units.
The deal has been ongoing and could be completed as soon as Thursday unless any issues delay the process.
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