Sara Blakely Net Worth 2024

What is Sara Blakely’s net worth?

Sara Blakely is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist who has a net worth of $1 billion {dollars}. She is the founding father of the very profitable shapewear model Spanx. In October 2021 Sara agreed to promote a majority stake in Spanx to personal fairness agency Blackstone in a deal that valued the corporate at $1.2 billion. Sara continues to personal a minority stake and oversees firm operations. Sara and her husband Jesse Itzler, who based Marquis Jets, are members of The Giving Pledge. Sara and Jesse are additionally minority homeowners of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks.

Early Life

Sara Treleaven Blakely was born on February 27, 1971, within the Tampa suburb of Clearwater, Florida. Her dad and mom Ellen and John are, respectively, an artist and lawyer. Her brother Ford is an artist. She graduated from Clearwater High School in 1989. She graduated from Florida State University with a bachelor’s diploma in communications in 1993. While at FSU, Blakely was a member of the Delta Delta Delta sorority.

Sara deliberate to grow to be a lawyer like her father, however her scores on the LSAT had been too low to get into legislation faculty. Instead, she went to work at Walt Disney World for 3 months and labored as a stand-up comedian within the evenings.

Career

After three months at Disney World,  Blakely received a job promoting fax machines door-to-door for an workplace provide firm. She was fairly good at her job and was promoted to nationwide gross sales coach when she was 25. Back within the Nineteen Nineties, a job like this meant she was required to decorate professionally, which included pantyhose. Needless to say, the warmth and humidity of summers in Florida made this extremely uncomfortable. Sara favored the management high facet of the pantyhose and the way they eradicated panty traces and made her seem thinner. However, the look of the seamed toes in open-toed sneakers irritated her. She tried reducing the feet off her hose, however then they simply rolled up her leg. There’s a saying that necessity is the mom of invention and this was very a lot true for Sara Blakely. This is how she was impressed to create Spanx.

Blakely moved to Atlanta when she was 27 for her job. Over the following two years, she researched and developed her thought utilizing her $5,000 in financial savings. Since a lot of the hosiery mills within the U.S. had been situated in North Carolina, she went there to buy her thought and attempt to discover a firm to make a prototype. Again and once more, she was turned down. No one understood her thought. Two weeks after returning to Atlanta, she received a name from a hosiery producer in North Carolina. He had daughters and when he instructed them about Blakely’s thought, they instantly not solely understood it however thought it was sensible. He provided to make Blakely’s shapewear.

It took a 12 months to make the primary Spanx prototype. She labored with a patent lawyer to use for a patent. She labored on the packaging. Then, she referred to as a neighborhood Neiman Marcus purchaser and arrange a gathering. During the assembly, she went into the toilet to placed on a pair of Spanx to show the advantages of the product. That was the proper transfer as the client jumped on the likelihood to be the primary to promote Blakely’s shapewear. Neiman Marcus ordered 7,000 items for his or her first order and put them up on the market in seven shops. Blakely then referred to as her associates and family and requested them to to to Neiman Marcus and make an enormous deal concerning the Spanx. Soon Saks, Bergdorf Goodman, and Bloomingdale’s additionally wished to promote Spanx.

Blakely was hands-on by way of all levels of Spanx’s development— together with in product positioning and advertising. Crucially, she insisted that Spanx be offered within the shoe division, versus the hosiery division. This set her product aside.

At about the identical time, Blakely despatched a basket of Spanx merchandise to Oprah Winfrey’s tv present with a be aware describing her life story and the way the product got here to be. Six weeks later, in November 2000, Oprah named Spanx a “Favorite Thing,” which despatched gross sales and market consciousness of Blakely’s product hovering. It was then that Blakely lastly give up her job on the workplace provide firm. During the primary 12 months of gross sales, Spanx offered $4 million in product. In its second 12 months, gross sales jumped to $10 million. Blakely signed a contract with QVC in 2001 and offered 8,000 pairs of Spanx within the first six minutes they had been accessible for buy.

Blakely and Spanx have by no means spent a dime on promoting. This is a product that grew fully based mostly on natural phrase of mouth and intelligent public relations. Blakely’s sense of her product and the corporate she wished to construct has been practically infallible from the beginning. Of course, it did not damage that Blakely was a great salesperson, too.

Almost as quickly as Spanx took off, different firms started knocking off the shapewear and promoting it at bargain-basement costs. Blakely foresaw this, which was one of many causes she selected to start out with high-end luxurious retailer Neiman Marcus. Women who store at that value level are usually extra model loyal and fewer targeted on value.

In 2007, Blakely made one other sensible transfer by partnering with Target to launch an unique lower-cost line of shapewear referred to as Assets by Sara Blakely.

In 2017, Spanx had estimated gross sales of $400 million. Blakely owns 100% of the non-public firm and has by no means taken outdoors funding.

Personal Life

Blakely married Jesse Itzler, the co-founder of Marquis Jet, in Boca Grande, Florida in 2008.  The couple met at a Net Jet Poker Tournament and dated for a 12 months earlier than getting married. Sara and Jesse have 4 youngsters.

In 2005, Blakely was a contestant on “The Rebel Billionaire.” She completed in second place and Richard Branson offered her with a $750,000 test to start out her basis. She launched the Sara Blakely Foundation in 2006. The basis helps ladies by way of schooling and entrepreneurial coaching.

Blakely joined The Giving Pledge in 2013.

She has been a visitor choose on ABC’s “Shark Tank.”

In 2015, Blakely and Itzler had been a part of the group led by Tony Ressler that purchased the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks for $850 million.

In 2019, Blakely paid $162,500 for the black pants worn by Olivia Newton-John in “Grease.” Proceeds from the public sale benefited Newton-John’s most cancers remedy middle in Melbourne, Australia.

Real Estate

In 2008, Blakely purchased a three-bedroom, 3,093 sq. foot apartment in Manhattan at 15 Central Park West for $12.11 million. She offered it in 2014 for $30 million.