Walgreens laying off 469 Illinois employees, following sale to private equity firm

Chicago Tribune · Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune/TNS

Lisa Schencker, Chicago Tribune

Fri, February 20, 2026 at 11:43 AM GMT+9 3 min read

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Walgreens is laying off 469 employees in Illinois, nearly six months after being bought by a private equity firm.

The employees work at the company’s offices in Deerfield, at downtown Chicago and in Danville, according to a letter the company sent to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Activity.

Walgreens said in the letter, which was sent earlier this month, that it would give affected employees 60 days’ notice of their termination, starting Feb. 10 and in the days following.

“Walgreens is reorganizing several areas of the business to best position the Company for growth and deliver results where they matter most: in our stores and with our customers and patients,” Kimberly Metrick, a Walgreens vice president, wrote in the letter.

The letter said all affected employees would remain employed and receive their full compensation and benefits for 60 days after being notified of their terminations or until they resigned.

Walgreens also sent notice to Texas in recent days that it was laying off 159 workers there, according to the Texas Workforce Commission.

“We’re focused on becoming America’s best retail pharmacy, beginning with improving the in‑store experience for our customers and patients,” a Walgreens spokesperson said in a statement Thursday. “To do this, we’ve made the difficult decision to simplify our organization in both the support center and with our field leadership to speed decision making and improve the service that millions of customers rely on every day.”

The layoffs follow private equity firm Sycamore Partners’ acquisition of Walgreens Boots Alliance in August for about $10 billion — a deal that took Walgreens private.

As part of that transition, Sycamore said that Walgreens, The Boots Group, Shields Health Solutions, CareCentrix and VillageMD would operate as separate, stand-alone companies moving forward. Mike Motz, who was previously CEO of Staples US Retail, was appointed CEO of Walgreens. Shortly after the sale, Walgreens said it planned to exit its space at Chicago’s Old Post Office, with its headquarters remaining in Deerfield.

The deal came after years of challenges for the retail pharmacy giant, which has faced issues related to medication reimbursements and competition from online retailers. Walgreens also struggled after pursuing an ill-fated attempt to become more of a health care destination by investing billions of dollars into primary care provider VillageMD.

In 2024, Walgreens announced that it would close 1,200 stores over a three-year span, including in Chicago. It also embarked on a series of layoffs in recent years, even before the acquisition, as it worked to cut costs.

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Some industry watchers noted, at the time of the deal, that the acquisition by a private equity firm would give the company space and time for a turnaround, while others worried that it would lead to layoffs and more store closures.

“These layoffs underscore the risks that come with turning essential healthcare providers into private equity portfolio companies,” said Jim Baker, executive director of the Chicago-based Private Equity Stakeholder Project, in a news release Thursday. “What happens next at Walgreens will matter not just for investors, but for workers, patients, and communities across the country.”

This is not Walgreens’ first round of layoffs since the acquisition. About 80 workers were laid off in October, and, in the fall, Walgreens changed its holiday pay program for store employees, saying it would not pay workers for holidays they didn’t work, though workers would be paid beyond their usual rates if they worked holidays, according to documents obtained by the Tribune.

Bloomberg first reported news of the layoffs Thursday.

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