Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. provides early education and child care, back-up care, educational advisory, and other workplace solutions services for employers and families. The company operates through three segments: Full Service Center-Based Child Care, Back-Up Care, and Educational Advisory and Other Services. The Full Service Center-Based Child Care segment offers traditional center-based child care and early education, preschool, and elementary education services. The Back-Up Care segment provides center-based back-up child care, in-home child and adult/elder dependent care, school-age camps, virtual tutoring, and self-sourced reimbursed care services through child care centers, school-age campuses, and in-home caregivers, as well as the back-up care network. The Educational Advisory and Other Services segment offers tuition assistance and student loan repayment program administration, workforce education, and related educational consulting services, as well as college admissions advisory services. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 1,014 child care and early education centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, and India. The company was formerly known as Bright Horizons Solutions Corp. and changed its name to Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. in July 2012. Bright Horizons Family Solutions Inc. was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts.
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Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) is like:
- Sodexo for corporate childcare and family solutions
- KinderCare for employers
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- Workplace Child Care and Early Education: Provides employer-sponsored, on-site, or near-site child care and early education centers.
- Back-Up Care: Offers emergency care solutions for children, adults, and elders when regular care arrangements are unavailable.
- Workforce Education and Development: Delivers educational advising, tuition assistance management, and college counseling services for employees.
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Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) primarily sells its services to other companies, which then offer these services as benefits to their employees.
Due to the nature of its business and its extensive client base of thousands of employers globally, Bright Horizons does not disclose specific "major customers" that individually account for a material portion of its revenue. According to its annual filings, no single client accounts for more than 1% of its consolidated revenue.
Instead, Bright Horizons partners with a diverse range of organizations across various sectors that sponsor its services for their employees. These categories of customer companies include:
- Corporations: Providing child care, elder care, and educational advising benefits to employees of numerous companies across industries such as technology, finance, manufacturing, and professional services.
- Hospitals and Healthcare Systems: Offering on-site child care and work-life solutions to support healthcare professionals.
- Universities and Educational Institutions: Partnering with colleges and universities to provide child care and early education services for their faculty, staff, and students.
- Government Agencies: Working with various government entities to offer similar work-life and educational benefits to public sector employees.
As such, there are no specific publicly traded customer companies with stock symbols to list, as their client base is highly diversified and no single client represents a significant concentration of revenue.
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Stephen H. Kramer, Chief Executive Officer, President, and Director
Stephen Kramer was named CEO of Bright Horizons in January 2018 and has held various leadership positions within the company for over two decades. He joined Bright Horizons in 2006 through the acquisition of College Coach®, a company he co-founded and led for eight years. Earlier in his career, he served as a consultant at Arthur D. Little, Inc., an Associate for Fidelity Ventures, Inc., and a Principal at Fidelity Bancorp, Inc. (Pennsylvania). Mr. Kramer received an undergraduate degree from Babson College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Elizabeth J. Boland, Chief Financial Officer
Elizabeth Boland has served as the Chief Financial Officer of Bright Horizons Family Solutions since June 1999. She joined Bright Horizons in 1997. As CFO, she is responsible for the financial management of the company, including implementing financial policies and procedures and developing a flexible infrastructure to support quality and growth. Prior to joining Bright Horizons, Ms. Boland served as Chief Financial Officer of The Visionaries, Inc., an independent television production company, from 1994 to 1997. From 1990 to 1994, she was Vice President-Finance for Olsten Corporation, a publicly traded provider of home-health care and temporary staffing services. She began her career at Price Waterhouse LLP, where she served on the audit staff from 1981 to 1990, completing her tenure as a senior audit manager. Ms. Boland is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Mary Lou Burke Afonso, Chief Operating Officer, North America Center Operations
Mary Lou Burke Afonso is the Chief Operating Officer for North America Center Operations at Bright Horizons Family Solutions. As of 2015, she had been with Bright Horizons for 18 years, serving as Executive Vice President of US Center Operations.
Mandy Berman, Chief Operating Officer, Back-Up Care and Emerging Care Services
Mandy Berman serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Back-Up Care and Emerging Care Services for Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
Ros Marshall, Managing Director, International
Ros Marshall holds the position of Managing Director, International at Bright Horizons Family Solutions.
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Bright Horizons Family Solutions (symbol: BFAM) operates in several key markets. The addressable market sizes for their main products and services in the U.S. are as follows:
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Early Education and Child Care: The U.S. child care market was estimated at USD 65.15 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 109.88 billion by 2033, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.02% from 2025 to 2033. This market includes early education and daycare, which held the largest revenue share within the sector.
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Elder Care: The U.S. elderly care services market was valued at USD 455.49 billion in 2023. It is expected to grow to USD 651.48 billion by 2029, demonstrating a CAGR of 6.15%.
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Workforce Education Services (including Tuition Program Management, Education Advising, and Student Loan Repayment Programs): The corporate training market size in the U.S. is forecast to increase by USD 18.46 billion at a CAGR of 9.1% between 2024 and 2029. This market addresses the demand for professional skills development and personalized learning content for employees.
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Backup Care: Backup care services, which include both child and elder care, are a component of Bright Horizons' offerings. While specific market sizes exclusively for "backup care" are not separately quantified in available market reports, backup child care is included as a type within the broader U.S. child care market, which is sized above.
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Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM) is expected to drive future revenue growth over the next 2-3 years through several key strategies:
Expected Drivers of Future Revenue Growth for Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM)
- Price Increases in Full-Service Child Care: The company has consistently implemented tuition increases in its full-service child care centers, contributing to revenue growth. For instance, in Q1 2025, average tuition increases were between 4% and 5%. Pricing adjustments were also a factor in the 9% rise in full-service revenue in Q3 2024 and the 8% increase in Q4 2024. This strategy is expected to continue to bolster revenue.
- Enrollment Growth in Full-Service Child Care Centers: Alongside price increases, Bright Horizons anticipates continued growth in enrollment at its full-service centers. Low single-digit enrollment growth was observed in Q3 and Q4 2024, and Q1 2025. This trend, coupled with improved operating leverage, is a significant driver for the segment's performance. The company also reported continued enrollment growth in Q2 2025.
- Expansion and Increased Utilization of Back-Up Care Services: The back-up care segment is a particularly strong driver of growth for Bright Horizons. This segment has shown robust performance, with an 18% revenue increase in Q3 2024, 15% in Q4 2024, 12% in Q1 2025, 19% in Q2 2025, and a substantial 26% increase in Q3 2025. This growth is attributed to strong demand, new client partnerships (e.g., Progressive Corporation, Brookfield Property), new users, and increased usage frequency among existing employees. Management projects backup care revenue to grow approximately 18% for the full year 2025.
- Opening of New Child Care Centers and Client Partnerships: Bright Horizons continues to expand its network through new center openings, often in partnership with client employers. The company added six new centers in Q3 2024, including for Colorado School of Mines, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Yale New Haven Health System. In Q4 2024, seven new centers were opened, with 17 client-sponsored centers for the full year, including for the Ragon Institute and St. Jude's Hospital. Six new centers were added in Q1 2025, four of which were client-sponsored. The company expects to open approximately 25 new centers in 2025.
- Growth in Educational Advisory Services: The Educational Advisory segment, while smaller, also contributes to revenue expansion. This segment saw a 4% increase in Q3 2024, an uptick in Q4 2024, 8% growth in Q1 2025, an 8.1% increase in Q2 2025, and a 10% increase in Q3 2025. The company expects mid-to-high single-digit growth for this segment in 2025.
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Share Repurchases
- Bright Horizons Family Solutions authorized a new share repurchase program on June 3, 2025, allowing the company to buy back up to $500 million of its common stock. This new program replaced a previous $400 million authorization from December 2021, which had approximately $58.9 million remaining.
- The repurchases can occur through open market transactions, privately negotiated deals, or other means and the repurchased shares will be retired.
- The company has engaged in stock buybacks over the past few years, with reported figures including $110.53 million in Q4 2021, $98.08 million in Q3 2022, $84.95 million in Q4 2024, $30.75 million in Q1 2025, and $41.88 million in Q2 2025.
Share Issuance
- Bright Horizons Family Solutions' shares outstanding for the quarter ending June 30, 2025, were 0.058 billion, reflecting a 1.24% decline year-over-year.
- Annually, shares outstanding saw a 0.93% increase in 2024 from 2023, a 0.95% decline in 2023 from 2022, and a 3.91% decline in 2022 from 2021.
- As of February 14, 2025, there were 57,354,223 shares of the company's common stock outstanding.
Outbound Investments
- Bright Horizons has a "proven acquisition track record" and continues to seek attractive opportunities for center acquisitions and complementary service offerings.
- In 2023, the company acquired 10 child care centers.
- Contingent consideration liabilities related to past acquisitions amounted to $0.2 million paid in 2023 (for a 2021 acquisition) and $19.3 million paid in 2022 (for 2019 and 2021 acquisitions).
Capital Expenditures
- Bright Horizons reported fixed asset investments of $59 million in Q3 2025.
- For the six months ending June 30, 2025, net investments, including capital expenditures, totaled $38.0 million, a decrease from $64.1 million in the same period of 2024.
- The company has historically grown its business with "limited capital investment" because employer sponsors frequently fund the majority of the capital required for new centers developed on their behalf.