headquarters portland oregon website www.kindercare.com kindercare education formerly knowledge universe is a privately held education services firm co founded by michael milken and his brother lowell in 1996 . 1 the firm is one of oregon s largest privately held companies and a large employer in the portland metropolitan area . executive leadership is based out of the portland national support center for kindercare education . 2 in 2012 company revenues were about 1.45 billion down from approximately 1.6 billion in 2010 . 3 contents 1 history 2 financials 3 references 4 external links history edit the company was founded in 1996 by brother michael and lowell milken . in 1998 children s discovery centers was acquired by knowledge universe learning group and in 1999 the company started knowledge beginnings . in 2003 the company was renamed as knowledge learning corporation klc and acquired aramark educational resources adding more than 700 children s world learning centers as well as the medallion onsite and before and after school programs for elementary school students . klc purchased edsolutions in 2004 which had provided supplemental educational services ses before and after school programs for 2 300 children in four states which then merged with medallion to form the klc school partnerships division . in janurayr 2005 klc merged with kindercare . tom wyatt a former ceo of old navy was hired as knowledge universe ceo in 2012 . 3 in july 2015 partners group bought knowledge universe . 4 5 knowledge universe renamed itself as kindercare education in january 2016 . 6 financials edit kindercare education is the parent company of several operations including kindercare knowledge beginnings children s creative learning centers cclc and champions . 7 in april 2012 standard & poor s lowered its ratings on knowledge universe education llc including its corporate credit rating to b from b and placed its ratings on creditwatch with negative implications . the rating action was based on weaker than expected performance rising debt leverage and strained liquidity . 8 references edit milken kindercare reunited . cnn money . 6 november 2004 . linda baker 27 january 2011 . knowledge universe reaches 1.6 billion in revenue . oregon business . a b linda baker 28 may 2013 . expanding universe . oregon business . giegerich andy july 9 2015 . oregon s third largest private company sold to swiss enterprise . portland business journal . retrieved 12 january 2016 . spencer malia july 9 2015 . knowledge universe ceo tom wyatt on why partners is the perfect partner . portland business journal . retrieved 12 january 2016 . giegerich andy january 6 2016 . oregon s 3rd largest private company renames itself with its best known brand . portland business journal . retrieved 12 january 2016 . kindercare learning centers . ku . s & p cuts knowledge universe education to b . reuters . external links edit official website v t e oregon based companies nyse listed greenbrier companies lithia motors nike nw natural portland general electric nasdaq listed columbia sportswear electro scientific industries erickson inc. fei flir lattice mentor graphics radisys rentrak schnitzer steel umpqua holdings private companies a dec banfield consumer cellular esco franz bakery hoffman construction infocus kindercare education laika leupold & stevens les schwab the old spaghetti factory parr lumber plaid pantry reser s fine foods roseburg forest products shari s vigor industrial other bi mart tillamook creamery western family foods list of companies based in oregon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title kindercare education & oldid 699424772 categories education companies of the united statescompanies based in portland oregoncompanies established in 1996privately held companies based in oregon navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 12 january 2016 at 06 40 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view