Bain & Company facts for kids

Bain & Company

Headquarters at 131 Dartmouth St, Boston, Massachusetts
Type	Private
Industry	Management consulting
Founded	1973; 52 years ago (1973)
Founder	William W. Bain Jr. Patrick F. Graham
Headquarters	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Number of locations	64
Key people	Christophe de Vusser (worldwide managing partner) Orit Gadiesh (chairman)
Revenue	$7 billion (2025)
Number of employees	19,000 (2023)

Bain & Company is a big American company that helps other businesses and organizations. It's like a team of expert advisors based in Boston, Massachusetts. They give advice to public groups, private companies, and even non-profit organizations.

Bain & Company is one of the "Big Three" management consulting firms. These are the largest and most famous companies that offer business advice. Bill Bain and his friends, including Patrick F. Graham, started Bain & Company in 1973. Bill Bain used to work for another big consulting company called Boston Consulting Group.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Bain & Company grew very quickly. Later, in 1984, Bill Bain created a separate company called Bain Capital. This new company focused on investing in other businesses. Mitt Romney became the first leader of Bain Capital.

Bain & Company faced some tough times and money problems from 1987 to the early 1990s. But thanks to Mitt Romney and Orit Gadiesh, the company became successful and grew again. In the 2000s, Bain & Company kept getting bigger. They started helping non-profits and technology companies even more. They also became very good at working with companies that invest in other businesses, known as private equity firms.

How Bain & Company Started

The Big Idea

The idea for Bain & Company came from William Worthington Bain Jr. He got the idea while working at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In 1970, the CEO of BCG, Bruce Henderson, divided his company into three competing teams. Bill Bain and Patrick Graham led one of these teams, the "blue team."

The blue team was very successful. It brought in more than half of BCG's money and won the internal competition. But Bill Bain felt frustrated because he wanted to help clients more directly. He felt like he was "a consultant on a desert island, writing a report, putting it in a bottle, throwing it in the water, then going on to the next one." He wanted to help companies actually put the advice into action.

Starting a New Company

Bill Bain was expected to take over as the leader of BCG. However, in 1973, he decided to leave and start his own consulting company. Many senior members of his "blue team" followed him. They started Bain & Company from his apartment in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston.

Many of the companies Bill Bain worked with at BCG also decided to follow him to his new company. Within a few weeks, Bain & Company was working with seven former BCG clients. This included two of BCG's biggest clients, Black & Decker and Texas Instruments. Because of this, Bruce Henderson accused Bill Bain of taking BCG's clients. Some people believe that the competition Henderson created actually helped Bill Bain start his own successful company.

Growing Fast

Bain & Company grew very quickly. Most of their new clients came from word-of-mouth recommendations from CEOs and company leaders. The company opened its first official office in Boston. Then, in 1979, they opened a European office in London.

By 1986, Bain & Company was making $150 million in revenue. The number of employees tripled from 1980 to 1986, reaching 800 people by 1987. By that time, Bain & Company was one of the four largest "strategy specialist" consulting firms. Not many employees left the company, which was unusual for the industry. Some of their biggest clients during this time were National Steel and Chrysler. Bain helped these companies save money on manufacturing.

Challenges and Comeback

Tough Times

In the late 1980s, Bain & Company faced some difficulties. There was a public relations problem in 1987 because of Bain's work with a company called Guinness. Also, some partners were unhappy because only Bill Bain knew how much money the company was making. He decided how much profit each partner received.

Then, the stock market crashed in 1987. Many of Bain's clients spent less money or stopped working with the company. Bain had to lay off about 30 percent of its employees.

Bain had helped Guinness improve its business and grow its profits. However, a Bain consultant had also worked as a temporary board member and finance head for Guinness. This created a situation where Bain was both advising and working for the client, which led to criticism. Bain & Company was not accused of any wrongdoing, but the situation caused problems for the company's reputation.

In 1985 and 1986, Bain & Company borrowed money to buy 30 percent of the company from Bill Bain and other partners. This cost the company $25 million each year in interest, making their money problems worse. Bill Bain tried to sell the company, but he couldn't find a buyer.

The Rebound

Mitt Romney came back to Bain & Company as a temporary CEO in January 1991. Many people say he saved the company from going out of business during his one year in this role. Romney had left Bain & Company in 1983 to lead Bain Capital.

Romney made changes to help the company. He allowed managers to know each other's salaries, and he worked to reduce the company's debt. He also changed the company structure so more partners owned a part of the firm. Romney convinced the founding partners to give up $100 million in ownership. After this, Bill Bain and most of the founding partners left the company.

Orit Gadiesh

Romney left again in December 1992 to start a career in politics. But before he left, he helped organize an election. This led to Orit Gadiesh becoming the chairman and Thomas J. Tierney becoming the worldwide managing director in July 1993. Gadiesh helped improve how employees felt about the company. She also changed a rule that stopped Bain from working with different companies in the same industry. This helped the company rely on more clients.

By the end of 1993, Bain & Company was growing again. The company had gone from 1,000 employees at its best, down to 550 in 1991, and then back up to 800. They opened more offices, including one in New York in 2000. From 1992 to 1999, the company grew 25 percent each year and expanded from 12 to 26 offices. By 1998, the company was making $220 million each year and had 700 employees.

Bain & Company Today

Recent Growth

In 1999 and 2000, Bain created two new groups to help technology companies. One of these, bainlab, helped new startup companies that might not be able to afford Bain's usual fees. They sometimes accepted part of their payment in ownership of the startup.

In February 2000, Orit Gadiesh was chosen for her third time as the company's chairman. John Donahoe took over from Tom Tierney as managing director. Around 2000, Bain started working more with private equity firms. They advised these firms on which companies to invest in. By 2005, Bain was the top company for private equity consulting.

By 2018, Bain's private equity group was three times larger than any other consulting firm working with private equity. This part of Bain's business made up 25% of its total work worldwide.

Bain & Company does not share its exact earnings, but it is believed to have grown by more than 10 percent each year in the 2000s. Even though the overall market for management consulting was slowing down, the "Big Three" firms, including Bain & Company, continued to grow. Bain opened new offices in other countries, like India in 2006. Like other big consulting firms, it also started working more with governments. Bain kept its general approach to consulting but created a special team for IT and technology.

In 2012, Robert Bechek became CEO. He was later voted the most-liked CEO in employee surveys.

In November 2017, Bain announced that Bob Bechek would step down. Manny Maceda was chosen to take his place as worldwide managing director in March 2018. Maceda said Bain would focus on growing its digital services. Bain & Company bought FRWD, a digital marketing company, in 2018. They also bought an analytics company called Pyxis the next year.

In February 2022, Bain announced it bought ArcBlue, a company that helps with buying and supplies in the Asia-Pacific region.

In 2023, Bain & Company made $6 billion in revenue and had 19,000 employees.

In January 2024, Christophe De Vusser was chosen to be the company's global chief executive. He was the head of Bain's European private equity business. De Vusser, who is from Belgium, took over from Maceda in July 2024. He is the first European to hold this top position.

What Bain & Company Does

Bain & Company mainly helps the CEOs of very large companies. They give advice on things like:

• Investing money in other companies (private equity).
• When companies join together or buy other companies (mergers & acquisitions).
• Overall plans for a company's future (corporate strategy).
• How a company manages its money (finance).
• How a company runs its daily business (operations).
• Understanding what customers want (market analysis).

They also have teams that focus on customer loyalty, how people talk about products, and digital technology. Most of their advice is about a company's main strategy.

Helping Communities

In 1999, a group called The Bridgespan Group was created to work with non-profit organizations. It is an independent non-profit itself. Bain & Company also has its own team that works on social impact projects. In 2015, they promised to give $1 billion in free consulting services by 2025.

This work focuses on different areas, including:

• Helping communities grow and develop.
• Dealing with climate change.
• Improving education.
• Supporting local communities.

Bain has helped organizations like UNHCR (which helps refugees), the World Childhood Foundation, and Teach for America. In 2015, Consulting Magazine gave Bain an award for its free work. They said Bain had "redefined how companies approach corporate social responsibility."

Later in the 2000s, Bain started offering special service packages for specific areas, like how companies manage their supplies. The company also became more involved in advising private equity firms. They helped these firms decide which companies to buy, how to improve them, and then how to sell them again for a profit.

In early 2006, Bain started selling its Net promoter score system. This system helps companies track how happy their customers are.

Working at Bain & Company

Bain & Company is known for being very private about its work and clients. In the 1980s, some people even called the company the "KGB of Consulting." Clients are given secret code names. Employees have to sign agreements promising not to share client names. They must follow a "code of confidentiality."

Employees at Bain are sometimes called "Bainies." This used to be a teasing name, but employees now use it as a friendly term. According to Fortune magazine, if Bain & Company were a person, it would be "articulate, attractive, meticulously well groomed, and exceedingly charming." It would also be "a shrewd, intensely ambitious strategist, totally in control."

Bain is often listed among the best places to work in yearly rankings by Glassdoor and Consulting Magazine. Bain has an active employee group for LGBT people called Pride. The company has been highly ranked as a good place to work for LGBT individuals.

Bain hires many people who have advanced business degrees (MBAs). But it was also one of the first companies to hire consultants right after they finished their bachelor's degree. The company is mostly organized by its different offices around the world. Each office works somewhat independently. Bain also has teams that focus on specific types of work (like mergers or technology) and specific industries (like finance or healthcare). The worldwide managing director is chosen by election and can serve up to three three-year terms.

See also

In Spanish: Bain & Company para niños