Petco

Who Petco Is

Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. trades on the Nasdaq under the ticker WOOF and is based in San Diego, California. Founded in 1965, it operates about 1,400 pet care centers across the United States and Puerto Rico, plus roughly 150 in Mexico and two in Chile through a joint venture, and employs more than 29,000 people it calls partners. It has spent recent years recasting itself from a pet supply chain into what it calls a health and wellness company for pets and their owners. [1] [2] As a public company, Petco reported net sales of about $6.0 billion for the fiscal year that ended January 31, 2026, down 2.5 percent from the prior year, and net income of $9.1 million, a swing from a net loss of $101.8 million a year earlier. [2]

The Federal Political Record

The political money tied to Petco in federal records comes from its employees, not the business itself. In the 2024 cycle, which runs from January 2023 through December 2024, people who list Petco as their employer gave $52,341, all of it from individuals giving $200 or more. [3] Petco runs no corporate political action committee, or PAC, which is a fund a company uses to give money directly to candidates, and its PAC total is $0 in every cycle on record. [3]

That employee giving split about 55 percent to Democrats and 45 percent to Republicans in 2024, or $26,708 to Democrats and $21,979 to Republicans. The direction has moved over time. Petco employees favored Republicans through 2018, then leaned Democratic in 2020, when about 74 percent of their giving went to Democratic candidates and committees, and they stayed on the Democratic side in 2024. [3]

On lobbying, Petco reported $0 in federal lobbying in 2024. Its reported federal lobbying has varied by year rather than being continuous, and its most recent reported spending was about $160,000 in 2022. [4] The company also reported $0 in outside spending in the 2024 cycle. [3]

Petco's own account lines up with that record. In its ESG report, the company states that, apart from its involvement in the Pet Advocacy Network, it does not make political contributions, and that its Code of Business Conduct and Ethics bars giving Petco funds or services to any political party or any candidate for public office. [5]

What the Federal Record Leaves Out

Federal databases like OpenSecrets and the FEC capture money in federal races. They do not capture giving to state political committees or to state trade association funds. Petco operates nationally rather than out of a single state, so the gap is smaller than it would be for a one state company, but a finding of no federal PAC and no federal lobbying is a statement about the federal record only. It is not evidence that the company is inactive at the state level.

Public Policy and Industry Groups

Petco does engage in public policy, mostly through industry groups rather than direct political spending. It says its main avenue is the Pet Advocacy Network, which it describes as representing the responsible pet care community in dealings with legislative, regulatory, and governing bodies. [5] Petco is also a member of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, or RILA, the trade group for large retailers, and says it works with other retailers there on public policy advocacy along with operations and sustainability. [5] Membership in these groups is common for big retailers and is not by itself a partisan signal, but it is where Petco's documented policy engagement actually happens.

Petco has also taken a documented, election-related step. In September 2020 it joined Time to Vote, a business-led, nonpartisan coalition, and gave all employees up to three hours of paid time off to vote on Election Day, which it also made a meeting-free day. [6] The company framed the move as removing barriers to voting rather than backing any party or candidate.

Values Posture: Diversity and Inclusion

Petco has taken a public, documented position on diversity that a values-driven shopper will want to see. In its annual report covering the year that ended in January 2023, the company said its chief executive set yearly goals tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes, that progress on those goals was reviewed with the board, and that it counted as part of the CEO's pay. [7] The same report said all Petco leaders take diversity, equity, and inclusion training.

Petco runs seven employee groups it calls Partner Resource Groups: Ability at Petco, Black at Petco, LGBTQ+ at Petco, Pan Asian American at Petco, Petcontigo for Latinx partners, Military and Veterans at Petco, and Women at Petco. [8] The company calls these groups foundational to its culture and describes its workplace around the idea that partners are accepted as they are.

In June 2024, Petco publicized its own scores on outside benchmarks. It said it scored 95 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, a measure of company policies for LGBTQ+ employees, and that it ranked in the top 8 percent of North American retailers on an S&P Global sustainability assessment. [9] The outside score is that group's measure and is not treated here as a verdict on Petco. What is documented is the company's own decision to take part and to publicize the result.

Petco has also taken more concrete LGBTQ+ action. In 2021 it expanded a Pride product line and became an Official Corporate Partner of The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention group, pledging 10 percent of Pride collection sales plus a minimum of $100,000 to the organization. [10] The company added preferred pronouns to employee email signatures and store name badges and said the Trevor Project partnership was developed with its LGBTQ+ at Petco employee group.

That language has largely held. Petco's most recent 10-K, filed in March 2026, still says the company values diverse backgrounds and identities, still states that partners are accepted as they are, and still lists seven Partner Resource Groups. [2] The section was not cut and was not swapped for merit based wording. Two things did shift: the standalone Diversity and Inclusion heading from earlier filings is now folded under Culture and Partner Communities, and the older language tying the CEO's pay to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals no longer appears in the human capital section. The current framing leans more on a business case, describing a mix of perspectives as a driver of innovation and a way to reach a diverse customer base.

Reader Context: The Shock Collar Ban

In October 2020, Petco stopped selling electronic shock collars in stores and online, launched a public campaign it called Stop the Shock, and asked competitors and lawmakers to consider new rules for the devices. [11] Its chief executive at the time said the collars did not fit the company's mission. The collars had accounted for roughly $10 million in annual sales at the time, revenue the company chose to give up. [12] The move followed an earlier decision to become the first major pet retailer to pull food containing artificial ingredients and colors. These are product and reputation choices rather than partisan political signals, and they do not factor into any lean.

Reader Context: Petco Love

Petco works alongside Petco Love, an independent nonprofit it helped found in 1999. By Petco's account, Petco Love has put more than $430 million into animal welfare work, helped more than 7 million pets get adopted through its Think Adoption First program, and handed out more than 4 million free pet vaccines in under-resourced communities through a program it calls Vaccinated and Loved. [2] This is charitable and community work rather than political activity, and it does not factor into any lean.

Ownership and Control

Petco is not a fully independent public company. It has swung between public and private ownership more than once over its history, and its most recent return to the market, a Nasdaq listing in January 2021, still left it under the control of the two private investors that owned it beforehand: the global private equity firm CVC Capital Partners and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, which operates as CPP Investments. Petco calls the pair its Sponsors, says they hold their stake through an entity called Scooby Aggregator, LP, and tells investors that it is a controlled company because the Sponsors hold a majority of its voting power, roughly two thirds as of 2025. [13]

Because those owners control Petco, their own political records are relevant ownership context. CPP Investments is a Canadian public pension fund created by law to invest retirement money for more than 20 million Canadians. It operates at arm's length from government under an investment only mandate, reported no US federal lobbying, and shows no partisan federal giving. [14]

CVC Capital Partners runs no corporate PAC. People who list CVC as their employer, together with soft money tied to the firm, gave $198,100 in the 2024 cycle, split almost evenly at about 50 percent to each party. [15] In the three cycles before that, from 2018 through 2022, that giving leaned Democratic, running between about 67 and 71 percent to Democratic candidates and committees. This is CVC's own firm wide giving across the many companies it owns, not money Petco directed, and it appears here as ownership context.

Where to Find Them

Petco sells both in stores and online. It runs about 1,400 pet care centers across the United States and Puerto Rico, roughly 150 more in Mexico, and two in Chile through a joint venture, and it pairs many of those stores with services: about 300 full service veterinary hospitals, roughly 1,600 Vetco clinics a week, plus grooming and training. [2] Shoppers can also buy through petco.com and the Petco app, which double as booking tools for the company's services. Petco's owned brands include WholeHearted, Reddy, So Phresh, and Well & Good.

Sources

1. Petco corporate and investor relations, Stop the Shock release (headquarters and store count). Accessed August 29, 2026.
2. Petco Health and Wellness Company, Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026, filed March 13, 2026 (founding year; store, employee, and services footprint; net sales and net income; Human Capital section; Petco Love). Accessed August 29, 2026.
3. OpenSecrets, Petco Inc organization profile, Totals (id D000036633), contributions by party of recipient and source of funds, all cycles. Accessed August 29, 2026.
4. OpenSecrets, Petco Inc federal lobbying client profile (client id 198268). Accessed August 29, 2026.
5. Petco Health and Wellness Company, ESG report (political contributions statement; Pet Advocacy Network and RILA involvement; Code of Business Conduct and Ethics). Accessed August 29, 2026.
6. Petco Health and Wellness Company, Petco Joins Time to Vote Coalition Ahead of 2020 National Election, September 28, 2020. Accessed August 29, 2026.
7. Petco Health and Wellness Company, Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2023, Human Capital section (CEO people goals tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion outcomes; leader training). Accessed August 29, 2026.
8. Petco Health and Wellness Company, annual report, Human Capital section listing seven Partner Resource Groups. Accessed August 29, 2026.
9. Petco Health and Wellness Company press release, Petco Releases 2023 ESG Report, June 26, 2024 (Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index score and S&P Global ranking, in the company's own words). Accessed August 29, 2026.
10. Petco Health and Wellness Company, Petco Celebrates LGBTQ+ Community with Expanded Pride Collection for Pets and Pet Parents that Gives Back, April 29, 2021 (Trevor Project partnership and donation; pronouns on email signatures and name badges). Accessed August 29, 2026.
11. Petco press release and contemporaneous news coverage of the shock collar ban, October 2020. Accessed August 29, 2026.
12. CNN Business and Petco, shock collar sales of about $10 million, October 6, 2020. Accessed August 29, 2026.
13. Petco Health and Wellness Company, definitive proxy statement (Schedule 14A) filed May 14, 2026 (controlled company status; control exercised through Scooby Aggregator, LP by CVC Capital Partners and CPP Investments). Accessed August 29, 2026.
14. OpenSecrets, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board federal lobbying client profile (id D000048236); CPP Investments governance disclosures (arm's length, investment only mandate). Accessed August 29, 2026.
15. OpenSecrets, CVC Capital Partners organization profile, Totals (id D000065636), contributions by party of recipient and source of funds, all cycles. Accessed August 29, 2026.