BBVA vs Burlington: Founders, CEOs and History

Company facts

Founders

CEOs and their tenures

Timeline: BBVA and Burlington side by side

1. 1857BBVA

   Banco de Bilbao is created

   Bilbao's Board of Trade promotes the creation of Banco de Bilbao as a bank of issue and discount for the city's merchants. It is the oldest institution in BBVA's corporate line.

2. 1901BBVA

   Banco de Vizcaya is founded

   Banco de Vizcaya is founded in Bilbao and grows alongside Banco de Bilbao as the second large Basque bank, financing regional industry.

3. 1972Burlington

   Burlington Coat Factory opens

   Monroe Milstein bought a coat outlet in a former factory building in Burlington, New Jersey, and sold brand-name coats at discount prices, the start of Burlington Coat Factory.

4. 1983Burlington

   First public offering

   Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corporation went public for the first time, funding expansion from a regional discounter into a national chain with year-round apparel, shoes, baby and home departments.

5. 1988BBVA

   Banco de Bilbao and Banco de Vizcaya merge

   The two Basque rivals merge to form Banco Bilbao Vizcaya (BBV), one of the largest banks in Spain ahead of the European single market.

6. 1989Burlington

   Cohoes Specialty Stores acquired

   Burlington bought the Cohoes Specialty Stores off-price chain from upstate New York, including a 50 percent stake in the Cohoes Commons building; a few stores still traded as Cohoes Fashions decades later.

7. 1999BBVA

   BBV merges with Argentaria to create BBVA

   BBV merges with Argentaria, the group Spain had assembled from state-owned lenders such as Banco Exterior, Banco Hipotecario and Caja Postal, forming Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria.

8. 2000BBVA

   BBVA takes control of Bancomer in Mexico

   BBVA capitalizes Bancomer with USD1.4 billion and merges it with BBV-Probursa to create Grupo Financiero BBVA Bancomer, the largest bank in Mexico.

9. 2004BBVA

   BBVA bids for the rest of BBVA Bancomer

   BBVA offers USD4.1 billion in cash for the roughly 41 percent of BBVA Bancomer held by minority investors, ending with about 99 percent of the Mexican group.

10. 2006Burlington

    Bain Capital takes Burlington private

    Bain Capital acquired Burlington Coat Factory for about $2.06 billion, ending 34 years of Milstein family control. Long-time executive Mark Nesci became chief executive.

11. 2007BBVA

    Compass Bancshares purchase builds a US franchise

    BBVA buys Compass Bancshares of Birmingham, Alabama for USD9.6 billion, creating a Sunbelt retail bank that later traded as BBVA Compass and BBVA USA.

12. 2008Burlington

    Tom Kingsbury named CEO

    Former Kohl's executive Thomas Kingsbury became president and CEO in December 2008, succeeding Mark Nesci, and began overhauling buying, inventory management and the supply chain.

13. 2010BBVA

    BBVA agrees to buy 24.9 percent of Garanti

    BBVA agrees to pay ~$4.74 billion (EUR4.195 billion), about USD5.84 billion, for 24.9 percent of Turkiye Garanti Bankasi, funded with a rights issue of about $5.65 billion (EUR5 billion).

14. 2013Burlington

    Return to the stock market

    Burlington Stores priced its IPO on October 2, 2013, selling 13.3 million shares at $17 each for about $226 million, and listed under the ticker BURL.

15. 2014BBVA

    BBVA wins the auction for Catalunya Banc

    BBVA bids ~$1.34 billion (EUR1.187 billion) for Catalunya Banc, with 1.5 million customers and ~$71.2 billion (EUR63 billion) of assets, in the auction run by Spain's bank restructuring fund. The deal closed in 2015.

16. 2018BBVA

    Onur Genc is named CEO

    BBVA's board designates Onur Genc as chief executive from December 31, 2018, the date Carlos Torres Vila replaces Francisco Gonzalez as executive chairman.

17. 2019BBVA

    BBVA unifies its brand worldwide

    The group drops local names such as BBVA Bancomer, BBVA Francés, BBVA Continental and BBVA Compass and operates as BBVA in every market.

18. 2019Burlington

    Michael O'Sullivan becomes CEO

    Former Ross Stores president and COO Michael O'Sullivan succeeded Tom Kingsbury as CEO around September 16, 2019, and later launched the Burlington 2.0 plan of leaner inventories and smaller stores.

19. 2020Burlington

    Online sales end and stores close for the pandemic

    On March 5, 2020, Burlington said it would shut its e-commerce business. Days later pandemic lockdowns closed its stores, and fiscal 2020 revenue fell to $5.76 billion with a $216.5 million net loss.

20. 2021BBVA

    BBVA closes the transfer of BBVA USA to PNC

    BBVA completes the transfer of BBVA USA Bancshares to PNC Financial Services on June 1, 2021, receiving about USD11.5 billion, equivalent to ~$10.8 billion (EUR9.6 billion), in cash.

21. 2022BBVA

    Tender offer lifts the Garanti stake to 85.97 percent

    A tender offer at 15 Turkish lira per share closes in May 2022 and raises BBVA's holding in Garanti BBVA to 85.97 percent.

22. 2023Burlington

    Bed Bath & Beyond leases

    Burlington won 44 Bed Bath & Beyond leases for $12 million at the June 2023 bankruptcy auction, the largest share of the 109 sold, and later reported 62 former Bed Bath & Beyond leases in total.

23. 2025BBVA

    The offer for Banco Sabadell lapses

    Shareholders representing 25.47 percent of Sabadell's voting rights accept BBVA's all-share offer, short of the minimum BBVA required, and the bid lapses on October 16, 2025.

24. 2025BBVA

    Record net attributable profit of ~$11.9B (EUR10.511B)

    BBVA reports gross income of ~$41.7B (EUR36.931B) and net attributable profit of ~$11.9B (EUR10.511B) for 2025, with ROTE of 19.3 percent and an efficiency ratio of 38.8 percent.

25. 2025Burlington

    Joann leases

    After Joann's second bankruptcy, Burlington agreed in April 2025 to take over 45 Joann store leases, many of which became part of its fiscal 2026 opening program.

26. 2026BBVA

    BBVA is ordered to stand trial in the Villarejo case

    Spain's National Court orders BBVA, former chairman Francisco Gonzalez and 14 other defendants to stand trial over work commissioned from former police commissioner Jose Manuel Villarejo between 2004 and 2016.

27. 2026Burlington

    Record fiscal 2025 results

    Burlington reported fiscal 2025 total revenue of $11.57 billion and net income of $610.2 million, and ended the year on January 31, 2026, with 1,212 stores.

28. 2026Burlington

    Tariff refunds put into prices

    In the second quarter of fiscal 2026, sales rose 11 percent to $2.998 billion. Burlington received $55 million in tariff refunds and said it would reinvest them in lower prices; the store count reached 1,287.

29. 2026Burlington

    Headquarters move to Philadelphia announced

    On September 3, 2026, Burlington said it will invest $370 million to move its headquarters from Burlington Township, New Jersey, to Schuylkill Yards in Philadelphia, in phases from late 2028 or early 2029.

Acquisitions

Questions about BBVA vs Burlington