If you have ever ordered dog food, cat litter, or pet medication online and had it arrive the next day in a cheerful red box, there is a very good chance Chewy made that happen. It is the largest online pet retailer in the United States — a company that turned the simple idea of selling pet supplies on the internet into an $11–12 billion annual revenue business.
But the story of who owns Chewy runs through a Canadian college dropout, the biggest e-commerce acquisition in history, a private equity firm, and one of the most dramatic ownership transformations in modern retail.
What Is Chewy?
Chewy, Inc. is an American online retailer of pet food, pet supplies, pet healthcare products, and veterinary services. The company is headquartered at 7700 West Sunrise Boulevard, Plantation, Florida, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CHWY. It serves over 20 million active customers across the United States and generated annual net sales approaching $11–12 billion in recent fiscal years.
Chewy is best known for its exceptional customer service — including handwritten holiday cards, personalized pet portraits, and flowers sent to customers who lose a pet. That human touch, built into a purely digital business, is what transformed Chewy from a startup into a genuinely beloved brand.
Who Owns Chewy Right Now in 2026?
Chewy is a publicly traded company on the NYSE (CHWY), owned by its shareholders with no single private controlling entity dominating the way it once did. As of early 2026, the ownership is broadly institutional — spread across some of the world’s largest asset managers.
The largest institutional shareholders include Baillie Gifford (~12.5%), Vanguard Group (~9.2%), and BlackRock (~7.8%). BC Partners — the private equity firm that backed PetSmart’s acquisition of Chewy in 2017 — remains a meaningful but significantly reduced shareholder following years of stake sell-downs. Insiders hold approximately 2.1% of the company.
Collectively, institutional investors own over 95% of the float — making Chewy one of the most institutionally dominated retail stocks on the market. The current CEO is Sumit Singh, who has led the company since 2018 and serves on the board of directors alongside an independent chair and a majority of independent directors.
Ownership and Key Stakeholders Table
| Owner / Shareholder | Type | Stake | Key Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baillie Gifford | Largest Institutional Shareholder | ~12.5% of CHWY | Scottish investment management firm; long-term growth investor |
| Vanguard Group | Second Largest Institutional Shareholder | ~9.2% of CHWY | Passive index fund giant; major CHWY holder |
| BlackRock, Inc. | Third Largest Institutional Shareholder | ~7.8% of CHWY | World’s largest asset manager; holds broad CHWY position |
| BC Partners / PetSmart entities | Legacy Private Equity Shareholder | Reduced but material stake | Originally held ~45.8%; significantly reduced through secondary offerings |
| AQR Capital Management | Institutional Investor | ~3.9% of CHWY | Quantitative investment firm; significant early 2026 position |
| Keith Gill (“Roaring Kitty”) | Individual Activist Investor | ~6.6% (mid-2024 peak) | SEC filing revealed 9M+ shares in mid-2024; position may have changed |
| Sumit Singh | CEO & Director | Minimal insider stake | Leads Chewy since 2018; holds shares via RSU compensation |
| Christopher S. Deppe | CFO | Minimal insider stake | Chief Financial Officer; confirmed via 2026 SEC filings |
| Ryan Cohen | Co-Founder (Historical) | Exited before IPO | Founded Chewy in 2011; sold to PetSmart 2017; no current stake |
The Origin Story: A Canadian Kid, 100 Rejections, and a Pet Food Idea
The story of Chewy begins in 2011 with a 25-year-old named Ryan Cohen from Montreal, Canada, who had dropped out of college to pursue entrepreneurship and was looking for his next big idea.
Ryan Cohen founded Chewy alongside co-founder Michael Day in 2011. Cohen had originally been on the verge of launching an online jewelry business when he pivoted to pet supplies after recognizing how completely underserved the market was online. The pair built the website, found a distributor, and partnered with a logistics company in roughly three months before launching under the original name “Mr. Chewy.”
Growing the business was brutal at first. Cohen approached over 100 venture capital firms and was rejected by every single one of them. He continued bootstrapping until 2013, when Volition Capital became the first institutional investor with a $15 million investment — validating the company’s unit economics. Later institutional backers included T. Rowe Price and BlackRock, which provided growth capital for building fulfillment centers.
By 2016, Chewy had reached $900 million in annual sales and become the No. 1 online pet retailer in America. By 2017, it had raised $350 million across six funding rounds and was preparing for an IPO.
The $3.35 Billion PetSmart Acquisition
Then came the deal that changed everything — and set the stage for how Chewy is owned today.
In April 2017, PetSmart purchased Chewy for approximately $3.35 billion — the largest e-commerce acquisition on record at the time, surpassing even Walmart’s $3.3 billion purchase of Jet.com the prior year. PetSmart itself had been taken private in 2015 by a consortium led by BC Partners, a European private equity firm — so the acquisition meant Chewy was now owned by a PE-backed brick-and-mortar pet retailer.
Ryan Cohen departed as CEO in 2018, replacing himself with Sumit Singh, a former Amazon executive. Cohen sold most of his stake before the IPO and moved on to become the activist investor who would later become Chairman of GameStop — a completely different chapter of his career.
The 2019 IPO and the Shift to Public Ownership
Chewy went public on the New York Stock Exchange on June 14, 2019, trading under the ticker CHWY at an initial price that gave the company an approximately $8.8 billion market capitalization. PetSmart, backed by BC Partners, initially retained control through a dual-class share structure — holding Class B super-voting shares that gave it outsized influence over governance decisions.
Over the following years, however, that concentrated private equity control steadily unwound. A 2020–2021 recapitalization of PetSmart redistributed Chewy shares to creditors and other PE backers to help reduce PetSmart’s debt burden.
Subsequent secondary offerings and gradual stake sell-downs by BC Partners converted that concentrated control into the broad institutional ownership structure that exists today. The dual-class legacy was reduced through Class B share conversions, and Chewy now operates under a standard one-share-one-vote governance structure with an independent board majority.
The “Roaring Kitty” Surprise
One of the most unexpected ownership developments in Chewy’s recent history came in mid-2024 — and it involved the internet’s most famous retail investor.
An SEC filing revealed that Keith Gill — the individual investor known online as “Roaring Kitty” who became famous during the GameStop trading frenzy — had accumulated just over 9 million Chewy Class A shares, representing a 6.6% stake that briefly made him the company’s third-largest shareholder.
The connection was obvious: Chewy was co-founded by Ryan Cohen, who was simultaneously the Chairman of GameStop — and Gill had been a key figure in the GameStop short squeeze saga. Chewy’s stock moved sharply on the news. The position has since fluctuated, and current filings should be checked for the latest status.
How Big Is Chewy Today?
The numbers behind Chewy in 2026 are genuinely impressive for a company that started as a website built in three months by two people who could not get a single investor to return their calls.
Chewy serves over 20 million active customers and generates annual net sales approaching $11–12 billion. It operates a network of fulfillment centers across the United States and has expanded into veterinary telehealth, pet insurance, and prescription medication services — moving far beyond its origins as a simple pet supply store. CEO Sumit Singh has consistently focused on growing the company’s high-margin Autoship subscription service, which now accounts for the majority of Chewy’s revenue and provides the predictable recurring income that makes the business model so powerful.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1. Who owns Chewy in 2026?
Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) is publicly traded, with Baillie Gifford (~12.5%), Vanguard (~9.2%), and BlackRock (~7.8%) as the three largest institutional shareholders.
Q2. Who founded Chewy and when?
Chewy was co-founded by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day in 2011, originally launched under the name “Mr. Chewy” in Dania Beach, Florida.
Q3. Did PetSmart buy Chewy?
Yes. PetSmart acquired Chewy in April 2017 for $3.35 billion — the largest e-commerce acquisition on record at the time.
Q4. Is Ryan Cohen still the owner of Chewy?
No. Ryan Cohen sold most of his stake before the 2019 IPO and stepped down as CEO in 2018. He has no current ownership stake in Chewy.
Q5. Who is the current CEO of Chewy in 2026?
Sumit Singh, a former Amazon executive, has served as CEO of Chewy since 2018 and remains in the role in 2026.
Q6. When did Chewy go public?
Chewy went public on the New York Stock Exchange on June 14, 2019, under the ticker symbol CHWY, at a market cap of approximately $8.8 billion.
Q7. What is Chewy’s annual revenue in 2026?
Chewy generates annual net sales approaching $11–12 billion, serving over 20 million active customers across the United States.
Q8. Who is “Roaring Kitty” and what is his connection to Chewy?
Keith Gill (“Roaring Kitty”) revealed a 6.6% stake in Chewy via SEC filings in mid-2024, linked to his association with Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen, who chairs GameStop.
Chewy, Inc. (NYSE: CHWY) is a publicly traded company owned predominantly by institutional investors, with Baillie Gifford (~12.5%), Vanguard (~9.2%), and BlackRock (~7.8%) as the three largest shareholders as of early 2026. It was co-founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day, sold to PetSmart for $3.35 billion in 2017, and taken public via IPO in June 2019.
The original controlling stake held by BC Partners and PetSmart has been significantly reduced through years of share sell-downs, leaving Chewy as a broadly held public company under the leadership of CEO Sumit Singh — with over 20 million customers and a mission to be the most trusted and convenient online destination for pet parents everywhere.