Costco

In 1976 Sol Price opened the first Price Club in a converted airplane hangar in San Diego, initially serving only business members. Costco calls it “the world’s first membership warehouse club.”⁠[1]

On September 15, 1983, the first Costco discount warehouse opened on 4th Avenue S in Seattle. The company was founded by Jeff Brotman and former Price Club executive Jim Sinegal.⁠[2]

Urged by his father to visit Price Club in California, Brotman recruited Sinegal to run the new business. The founders thought it “could perhaps grow to a dozen locations.”⁠[3]

On December 5, 1985, the two-year-old Costco Wholesale went public at $10 a share, equivalent to about $1.67 per share after adjusting for later stock splits.⁠[4]

Costco began warehouse operations in Canada in 1985 and in Mexico in 1992.⁠[3]

On October 21, 1993, shareholders of The Price Company and Costco approved their merger into PriceCostco. Robert E. Price became chairman and James D. Sinegal chief executive officer.⁠[5]

The combined company, operating as PriceCostco, had 206 locations and $16 billion in annual sales.⁠[1]

On July 28, 1994, PriceCostco agreed to transfer certain non-warehouse assets to Price Enterprises, with shareholders able to exchange shares one for one, up to 27 million shares.⁠[5]

The same year, the company opened its first warehouse in Asia.⁠[3]

In 1995 Costco launched its private-label brand Kirkland Signature.⁠[3]

After spinning off most non-warehouse assets to Price Enterprises, the company became Costco Companies, Inc. in January 1997. On August 30, 1999, it reincorporated in Washington as Costco Wholesale Corporation. Fiscal 1999 net sales rose 13 percent to about $26.98 billion, with 292 warehouses at year-end.⁠[6]

On August 31, 2011, Costco announced that Jim Sinegal would step down as chief executive officer effective January 1, 2012, and that the board had elected Craig Jelinek, then president and chief operating officer, as president and CEO from that date. Sinegal remained with the company through January 2013 in an advisory and transition role and stayed on the board.⁠[7]

In 2013 Tiffany & Co. sued Costco over signs using the word “Tiffany” beside unbranded diamond engagement rings and won a $21 million judgment. On August 17, 2020, the Second Circuit vacated the summary judgment and remanded for trial, finding triable issues on likelihood of confusion and fair use.⁠[8]

In July 2021 the two companies settled; terms were not disclosed, and the case was dismissed with prejudice.⁠[9]

In January 2017 Costco agreed to pay $11.75 million in civil fines to settle federal allegations of improperly filled prescriptions and poor records, acknowledging that from 2012 through 2015 some pharmacies dispensed controlled substances inconsistently with the Controlled Substances Act. It agreed to spend $127 million over five years on pharmacy record-keeping.⁠[10]

On August 1, 2017, Costco announced that its chairman and co-founder Jeff Brotman had died that morning at the age of 74.⁠[11]

Later that month the board elected Hamilton E. (Tony) James, a director since August 1988 and lead independent director since 2005, as chairman; James was then president and chief operating officer of the private equity firm The Blackstone Group.⁠[12]

Costco entered China in 2014 with an online store on Tmall. On August 27, 2019, its first brick-and-mortar store in mainland China opened in Shanghai’s Minhang district; because of overcrowding, the company closed the store temporarily that afternoon.⁠[13]

On October 18, 2023, Costco announced that Craig Jelinek would step down as chief executive officer effective January 1, 2024, and that the board had elected Ron Vachris, then president and chief operating officer, as president and CEO from that date. Jelinek remained an employee through April 2024 in an advisory and transition role and stayed on the board.⁠[14]

On December 14, 2023, Costco’s board declared a special cash dividend of $15 per share, payable January 12, 2024, to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 28, 2023; the aggregate payment was approximately $6.7 billion.⁠[15]

In July 2024 Costco announced that, effective September 1, its basic annual fee would rise by $5 to $65 and the Executive membership fee in the United States and Canada from $120 to $130, the first increase since 2017, affecting around 52 million memberships.⁠[16]

In January 2025 Costco shareholders voted 98 percent against an anti-DEI proposal put forward by the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank. The board had urged a vote against it, stating, “We believe that our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts are legally appropriate.”⁠[17]

In November 2025 Costco sued the Trump administration in the U.S. Court of International Trade, arguing that tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) were unlawful and seeking a full refund of the duties it had paid, without disclosing the amount. The Supreme Court was then considering the legality of the tariffs.⁠[18]

In February 2026 the Supreme Court ruled the tariffs unlawful.⁠[19]

As of August 30, 2026, Costco operated 939 warehouses, 647 of them in the United States and Puerto Rico, and had 84.1 million paid members and 355,000 employees.⁠[19]

On September 24, 2026, Costco said fiscal 2026 (52-week) net sales rose 10.1 percent to $297.2 billion; total revenue was $303.154 billion and net income $9.226 billion, or $20.76 per diluted share, up from $8.099 billion a year earlier.⁠[20]