[13] In addition to the three founding partners, the early team included Fraser Bullock, Robert F. White, Joshua Bekenstein, Adam Kirsch, and Geoffrey S.

[22] In the face of skepticism from potential investors, Romney and his partners spent a year raising the $37 million in funds needed to start the new operation.

[26] Early investors included Boston real estate mogul Mortimer Zuckerman and Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots football team.

Initially, the two firms shared the same offices—in an office tower at Copley Place in Boston[28]—and a similar approach to improving business operations.

[36] Bain Capital eventually reaped a nearly sevenfold return on its investment, and Romney sat on the Staples board of directors for over a decade.

[37] A few years later, Bain Capital made an investment in the technology research outfit the Gartner Group, which ended up returning a 16-fold gain.

The long-short equity hedge fund, Brookside Capital, was founded in 1996 and, Sankaty Advisors, the company's fixed income affiliate, was started two years later.

[41] Building affiliates for the firm was directed by three conditions: that it leveraged its core skills; one of its Managing Directors has a leadership role; and, the new business invests in attractive asset class.

[53] Other notable Bain investments of the late 1990s, included Sealy Corporation, the manufacturer of mattresses;[54] Alliance Laundry Systems;[55] Domino's Pizza[56] and Artisan Entertainment.

Following its restructuring, Dade Behring emerged from Bankruptcy in 2003 and continued to operate independently until 2007 when the business was acquired by Siemens Medical Solutions.

[73] By the end of the decade, Bain Capital was on its way to being one of the top private equity firms in the nation,[30] having increased its number of partners from 5 to 18, having 115 employees overall, and having $4 billion under its management.

[37][58][59] Romney took a paid leave of absence from Bain Capital in February 1999, when he became the head of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the 2002 Winter Olympics.

[84][86] He did stay in regular contact with his partners, and traveled to meet with them several times, signing corporate and legal documents and paying attention to his own interests within the firm and to his departure negotiations.

[40] Bain Capital itself, and especially its actions and investments during its first 15 years, came under press scrutiny as the result of Romney's 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns,[37][90][91] including accusations of Asset Stripping.

[102] KB Toys, which had been financially troubled since the 1990s as a result of increased pressure from national discount chains such as Walmart and Target, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2004.

[104][105] With a significant amount of committed capital in its new fund available for investment, Bain was one of a handful of private equity investors capable of completing large transactions in the adverse conditions of the early 2000s recession.

[108] In late 2002, Bain remained active acquiring Houghton Mifflin for $1.28 billion, together with Thomas H. Lee Partners and Blackstone Group.

[117] In 2006, Bain Capital and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, together with Merrill Lynch and the Frist family (which had founded the company) completed a $31.6 billion acquisition of Hospital Corporation of America, 17 years after it was taken private for the first time in a management buyout.

[121] In January 2006, Bain announced the acquisition of Burlington Coat Factory, a discount retailer operating 367 department stores in 42 states, in a $2 billion buyout transaction.

[122] Six months later, in October 2006, Bain and The Blackstone Group acquired Michaels Stores, the largest arts and crafts retailer in North America in a $6.0 billion leveraged buyout.

[124] Bain, along with partners Carlyle Group and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, would later negotiate a lower price ($8.5 billion) when the initial stages of the subprime mortgage crisis caused lenders to seek to renegotiate the terms of the acquisition financing.

[130] In July 2008, Bain Capital, together with NBC Universal and Blackstone Group agreed to purchase The Weather Channel from Landmark Communications.

[133] In June 2009, Bain Capital announced a deal to invest up to $432 million in Chinese electronics manufacturer GOME Electrical Appliances for a stake of up to 23%.

On November 5, 2021, it was reported that Bain Capital planned to list Brillio on the NASDAQ, with an IPO of valuation $3 billion or more, including debt.

[166] In August 2023, Bain Capital took private Chindata Group Holdings, a data center company based in Beijing, in a deal valued at approximately $3.2 billion.

[167][168] In December 2023, Infroneer Holdings, a Japanese civil engineering group, had disclosed its intent to acquire Japan Wind Development from Bain Capital for an estimated $1.4 billion.

[3] Bain Capital Ventures has funded the launch and growth of several companies, including DocuSign,[177] Jet.com,[178] Lime,[179] LinkedIn,[180] Rent the Runway,[181] SendGrid,[182] and SurveyMonkey.

[173] In March 2019, it was reported that Bain Capital Double Impact had acquired a majority stake in IT outsourcing firm Rural Sourcing.

[200] Bain Capital's approach of applying consulting expertise to the companies it invested in became widely copied in the private equity industry.

[203] In at least some instances, companies acquired by Bain borrowed money in order to increase their dividend payments, ultimately leading to the collapse of what had been financially stable businesses.