Ownership profile
Who owns Great Clips?
Great Clips is a privately held, founder-controlled company incorporated in Minnesota; its majority shareholder is Ray Barton, who bought out co-founders in 1997, and no private equity firm is known to currently hold a stake in the franchisor entity.
Ownership profile
Great Clips
Great Clips, Inc.
Evidence (12)
Ray Barton bought out co-founders Lemmon, Rubenzer, and Jeff Elgin in 1997 to become the majority shareholder of Great Clips, Inc., and currently serves as Chairman of the Board.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_ClipsGreat Clips, Inc. is a privately held company incorporated in Minnesota, founded in 1982, operating as the franchisor of the Great Clips hair salon brand.
https://www.greatclips.com/about-us/overviewGreat Clips, Inc.'s own official history confirms Ray Barton bought out his partners to become majority shareholder.
https://www.greatclips.com/about-us/overviewGreat Clips is 100% franchised — every salon is independently owned and operated by franchisees; the corporation does not operate any company-owned salons.
https://franchise.greatclips.com/the-great-clips-advantage/brand-and-historyRay Barton is confirmed as Chairman of the Board; the company's leadership page lists him as a longtime individual owner, with no mention of any PE sponsor or institutional equity holder.
https://www.greatclips.com/about-us/leadership/ray-bartonArgosy Private Equity is a lower middle market PE firm founded in 1990 focused on manufacturing and business services; its current portfolio page does not list Great Clips as an active portfolio company.
https://argosycapital.com/private-equity/companies/Great Clips is not listed on any public stock exchange; no SEC EDGAR filings found for Great Clips, Inc. as a public reporting company.
https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/Rob Goggins became President & CEO effective January 1, 2026, succeeding Steve Hockett; both are career executives, not PE-installed management — consistent with founder/private ownership.
https://www.owler.com/company/greatclipsGreat Clips, Inc. is described as a privately held company by multiple independent sources.
https://sharpsheets.io/blog/great-clips-franchise-costs-profits/The current Great Clips, Inc. (the franchisor) is separately listed by PitchBook as a private company with only $350K raised, distinct from the 'Great Clips (Acquired)' entity.
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/399692-89Tracxn references Argosy Capital as having invested in Great Clips, but provides no date, deal size, or stake detail, making it impossible to confirm this is a current or controlling investment in the franchisor entity.
https://tracxn.com/d/private-equity/argosycapital/__czih8qSjWQSnhrbrzS_ZrIqL_XPbA-FvrRMS0VfWxu0PitchBook lists a separate, older entity labeled 'Great Clips (Acquired)' with investments from Argosy Private Equity, Deltennium, and RFE Investment Partners, totalling $15.5M raised; PitchBook separately identifies this as 'Acquired' by the current Great Clips, suggesting the PE-backed entity is a legacy predecessor or related entity, not the current Great Clips, Inc. franchisor.
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/12294-55What's uncertain
- PitchBook lists a distinct 'Great Clips (Acquired)' entity with past PE investment from Argosy Private Equity, RFE Investment Partners, and Deltennium ($15.5M total), but this appears to be a predecessor or separately tracked entity now absorbed by Great Clips, Inc.; no press release, acquisition announcement, or PE portfolio page could confirm PE involvement in the current Great Clips, Inc. franchisor entity.
- Argosy Private Equity's current portfolio page does not list Great Clips as an active company, providing moderate positive evidence that the PE relationship (if any) has ended or was not in the current franchisor entity.
- The exact nature and timing of any Argosy/RFE investment in Great Clips could not be verified from authoritative public sources; the PitchBook 'Acquired' label is unconfirmed by any press release or SEC filing.
- Great Clips, Inc. is privately held and does not file public financials; detailed cap table and minority ownership information is not publicly available.
- PE confidence is scored at 72 (none) rather than high confidence because the PitchBook secondary signal introduces residual uncertainty, even though Argosy's live portfolio and all other public evidence point away from current PE involvement.
- The franchise flag applies to individual salon locations, which are 100% independently owned by franchisees, not by Great Clips, Inc. itself.