In the late 1980s, Mitt Romney and his partners bought up hundreds of successful small clothing stores and combined them to form Stage Stores. Romney and his team loaded up the company with debt, and then, when the company was at its height, sold nearly all their shares at an enormous profit. In less than three years, the stock had collapsed and Stage was forced to declare bankruptcy.
Mitt Romney and his partners embark on an aggressive plan to buy up hundreds of successful small clothing stores and combine them into one large company called Stage Stores
Stage Stores more than doubles, quickly growing from 257 stores in 13 states to 607 stores in 24 states, and it begins trading shares on the New York Stock Exchange
Romney and his partners sell their shares in Stage, just as stock prices reach a record high
“In September of 1997, Bain Capital, which then owned 13 percent, and Acadia, which owned 12 percent, sold more than six million shares of their Stage Stores stock—virtually all they owned—for $208 million in the secondary offering. … The sales were made at record high stock prices of as much as $52 per share.”
Houston Business Journal, 4/9/991998One year later, the stock price of Stage plummets and Romney’s partners repurchase shares
“[The stock price] plunged 58 percent in one day in August of 1998, when the company reported large sales declines and slashed its expected earnings by 25 cents per share. The company’s stock has continued to decline, now trading in the $6 to $7 range for a total loss in value of more than 70 percent.”
Houston Business Journal, 4/9/992000Stage Stores files for bankruptcy
“Company officials blame the Chapter 11 filing two years ago on ‘an expensive and expansive growth binge.’”
Houston Business Journal, 7/5/022002From 1999 to February 2002, a total of 5,795 workers at Stage Stores lose their jobs
Mitt Romney and his partners made more than $170 million from Stage Stores. They played by their own set of rules, and profited even as businesses were closed and workers lost their jobs.
This is experience that Mitt Romney now cites as his qualification to be president, and the economic philosophy he would bring to the entire country.