50% of the ownership of Domino’s Pizza was once traded for a used VW Beetle!
After 8 months, James traded his half of the business to Tom for a used Volkswagen Beetle. Tom then changed the name of the pizza place to Domino’s Pizza, Inc in 1965.
In 1967, the first Domino’s franchise store opened in Ypsilanti. By 1978, the franchise had opened its 200th store! In 1998, after owning the company for 38 years, Tom retired.
He sold 93% of the company to Bain Capital, Inc for $1 billion. He quit being involved in every day operations and a year later a new CEO was named. After 44 years of being privately owned, the company began trading common stock in the New York Stock Exchange in 2004 under the ticker symbol “DPZ.”
