Domino's Pizza Founder Retires

Domino's Pizza founder Tom Monaghan said Friday he is retiring and selling a "significant portion" of his stake in the company to a Massachusetts investment firm.

"At the age of 61, reflecting on my life and the goals I have yet to fulfill, I have decided to retire from active involvement in Domino's Pizza and devote more time to my charitable endeavors," he said in a statement.

He is selling to Bain Capital Inc., which manages more than $4 billion. One of its managing directors is Mitt Romney, the son of former Michigan Gov. George Romney. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Kyle Potvin, a spokeswoman for Bain Capital, said Bain will run the company, and Monaghan will not be involved in day-to-day operations. She would not say how much of the company Bain had bought.

Domino's has about 6,100 stores, 4,400 of them in the United States.

The company was founded in 1960 when Monaghan and his brother James borrowed $900 to buy DomiNick's, a pizza store in Ypsilanti. James later traded his share of the business for a Volkswagen Beetle. Monaghan renamed the store Domino's Pizza in 1965, and opened the first franchise in 1967.

Monaghan has made several attempts to sell parts of the business over the years, and had asked $1 billion for it in the early 1990s.

In 1989 he took a hiatus from the business for 2 1/2 years to devote himself to Roman Catholic philanthropy. A devoted Catholic, he supervised the construction of a cathedral in Nicaragua; built a mission in Honduras; and founded a group of 450 Catholic chief executives who travel to places of Catholic interest.

During his time off, he sold most of his riches, prompted by his reading of the book Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. He also became an outspoken abortion opponent, which resulted in a nationwide boycott of Domino's by the National Organization for Women.

"It seemed like every bad thing I ever did in my life came through my mind, right from the time I was a little kid," the shy, soft-spoken Monaghan said in a 1994 interview. "I realized how bad a person I really am. It was exciting because it showed I really have got some room for improvement and I can really do better."

Monaghan used to own baseball's Detroit Tigers. He sold the team in 1992 to Detroit's other pizza magnate, Little Caesar's founder Mike Ilitch.

Written By Justin Hyde