Brand ownership analysis

Twenty analyses of who owns what, each computed from the same cited ownership records and each stating what its numbers do and do not cover.

They count brands. Revenue is available only for the companies that file with the SEC, and the size page says so. Only about a quarter of ownership links carry a start date, so the analyses that depend on dates say where they stop. Data as of 16 October 2026. The basic counts are on the statistics page.

• Foreign ownership by country

  The share of each country’s brands that a company headquartered elsewhere controls, which countries own them, and the categories where it is highest.

• Concentration index by category

  The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index of brand counts by controlling owner for every category with enough brands, from most to least concentrated.

• Concentration over time

  How the top-three share and the index moved since 1990 in the categories where the dated record is complete enough to show it.

• Serial acquirers

  The companies that bought the most tracked brands, by year, category and country, and the largest stated deal values in each currency.

• Private equity and fund footprint

  Which brands sit under funds, holding companies and family groups, and which have passed through a fund.

• Brands held under licence

  Who licenses names to whom, the biggest licensees and licensors, and the categories where licensing is most common.

• Ownership changes and holding periods

  Brands that have changed hands, how long owners kept them where both dates are known, and the most recent changes.

• Company size

  Revenue from SEC filings set against the number of brands each company controls, in the currency reported and never converted.

• Data quality

  How much of the record is backed by a filing, dated, and sourced from a working link, by category, and where it is weakest.

• Who owns transport, by mode

  Ownership of airlines, rail, shipping, logistics, airports and other transport brands by mode: state-owned, listed and private owners, concentration, and owner country against brand origin.

• State ownership

  The companies typed as state-owned, the countries that host them, the brands they control and the categories where they matter most.

• Ownership type by sector

  Public, private, state, family, cooperative and fund owners as a share of brands in each category, and how well the private owners are documented.

• How much do owners own?

  Stake sizes on live brand ownership: wholly owned, majority and minority, by category, owner type and country.

• How long owners hold brands

  Years held to date and completed holding periods where dates are known, the longest-held brands, and the owners who sold most.

• Ownership layers

  How many companies sit between a brand and its ultimate owner, the recorded chains, and the countries a chain crosses.

• Where owners are listed

  Stock exchanges and their countries for brand-owning companies, home against foreign listings, cross-listings and brands by owner listing venue.

• Where brands come from and where they end up

  Brand origin country against owner country: the largest flows, each country’s net position and the effect of tax-domicile headquarters.

• The largest brand owners

  Ultimate parents ranked by brands controlled, the leaders inside each category, and the biggest owner in each headquarters country.

• Brands that share a name

  Names used by brands with different owners, with each one’s category and owner so they are easy to tell apart.

• Recalls by owner

  Regulator recalls matched to brands and owners, compared only within each regulator’s dataset, with what the recall feeds do and do not cover.