Which Owns Which?

[462]

Several battery powered hand tool and lawn mower threads, of late, got me wondering which company owns which tool name. Some I knew. Some you know. Many surprises.

Power Tool Manufacturers and Who Really Owns Them - 2023

It may surprise you that only a handful of larger companies own your favorite power tool manufacturers. Here's who owns who...with lists!

www.protoolreviews.com

At the end of the day does it make any difference?
Will any of us change our opinion of a particular brand based on what company owns it?

 

[Rick]

That was quite interesting, thanks for posting it.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

This is common throughout many industries. There are factors beyond the identity of a the parent company. For example, a large well known company with a reputation for high quality products may purchase a competitor that makes an economy version of similar product in order to capture the market share they were losing to the lower end competitor. And the same thing occurs in reverse; a profitable economy manufacturer may purchase a higher end maker to capture that market share.

Sometimes a large company will intentionally manufacture similar products under multiple brands with varying levels of quality and varying levels of profit margins. A classic example of this would be General Motors with Cadillac as their high end brand and Chevrolet as their entry level brand. All the products are General Motors products. Now GM didn't hide this fact; they exploited it. Some large companies intentionally conceal their holdings from the consumer (or at least don't brag about them) to give the appearance of competition and promote brand loyalty. A classic example of this would be automotive batteries that are sold under dozens of brands but are produced by a handful of companies.

A firearms example would be The Herstal Group which owns the Browning brand, U.S. Repeating Arms (AKA Winchester) and products sold in the U.S. as "FN" (Fabrique Nationale).

 

[Petrol & Powder]

And while we're talking about holding companies; how about Darden Restaurants that owns: Capital Grill, Eddie V's Prime Seafood, Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Yard House, Seasons 52, Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen and Longhorn Steakhouse.
They owned Red Lobster until a few years ago.

 

[StrawHat]

My wife and I own ONE company! There are two divisions but one company!

Kevin

 

[Hawk]

I have some older Dewalt battery operated power tools. The 18 Volt with the shaft up the handle. I'm now forced to buy after market Li Ion batteries for them, which have a circuit board in them. One more thing to go wrong!
They are very good tools, despite not having batteries available.
It hurt my feelings that they were bought out by Black & Decker. I never have liked B&D.
Every tool I had from them seemed like it had a life expectancy of 12 months.

 

[Rick]

12 months? You lucked out, most don't make it that long. Truth is though that B&D used to be a fine tool but that was a long, long time ago now.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

One of the reasons I dislike cordless power tools are the proprietary batteries. A long time ago we settled on some standards like the Edison base for a light bulb, the D-cell battery, the #4 cone coffee filter, The group 27 car battery, the 9mm Luger cartridge............You get the point.

The manufacturers of cordless tools LIKE proprietary batteries because it promotes (almost forces) brand loyalty. Format wars occur in many industries,
DVD, USB, Propane cylinders, telephone jacks, 8.5" x 11" copy paper.......eventually an industry standard emerges. If we ever get a standard, non-propriety cordless tool battery pack - we'll have some real competition between cordless tools. Until that happens, we cannot compare one brand against another. Everyone has their own battery pack, their own charger, the batteries only fit one brand of tools and chargers, There is no standard.