Ownership type by sector

How this was computed

• Population: 11,970 of 12,226 brands (97.9%) have a controlling owner today (owned outright or at least 50%, following controlling links up through subsidiaries). The other 256 have only a licence, only a minority holder, or no recorded owner and are left out.
• Each brand is counted once, under the company type of its ultimate owner. Owners counted per category are distinct ultimate owners; one owner can appear in several categories, so owner counts do not add up across rows. 2,968 distinct ultimate owners in total.
• Categories are read from the taxonomy as it stands: 22 top-level categories. A brand is counted in its top-level category and in its second-level branch.
• Categories with fewer than 5 brands show counts only. "Highest share" lists use top-level categories with at least 20 brands.

Share of brands by owner type, per category

Each bar is 100% of the category's brands with a controlling owner. The table after the chart gives the same numbers.

• Public
• Private
• State-owned
• Family office
• Cooperative
• Private equity
• Holding
• Trust

• Food2,153 brands
• Travel & transport1,827 brands
• Beverages1,303 brands
• Finance & insurance1,023 brands
• Energy797 brands
• Home, garden & DIY746 brands
• Internet & digital633 brands
• Personal care & beauty599 brands
• Apparel, footwear & accessories579 brands
• Media & entertainment412 brands
• Home care406 brands
• Healthcare & pharma270 brands
• Retail186 brands
• Tobacco & nicotine173 brands
• Pet & animal care163 brands
• Restaurants & foodservice162 brands
• Automotive152 brands
• Telecom127 brands
• Consumer health124 brands
• Technology95 brands
• Real estate29 brands
• Sport & fitness11 brands
• All categories11,970 brands

Top-level categories: the numbers

Percentages are of the brands in that row. A dash means fewer than 5 brands, where only counts are shown.

Which categories have the highest share of each type

Top three of the top-level categories with at least 20 brands that have any brand of that type. Share is of the category's brands; the count is in brackets.

Second-level branches

The same measures one level down, grouped by top-level category. Branches with fewer than 5 brands show counts.

How well documented are the "private" owners?

600 distinct private ultimate owners control 2,100 brands. Each owner is placed in the first group that fits.

A private owner with a ticker would mean the type is stale; any such owner is a data issue, not a finding. "Official web page" means a source typed as an official page that is not a filing, annual report, registry or press release. This measures how the record is sourced, not whether the owner is truly private.

What this does not show

• Type is as recorded. A company's type is a single label and can lag a flotation, a delisting or a buyout.
• "Private" includes owners whose ownership is not documented, so its share is an upper bound for truly private control. The state-owned, family office, cooperative, private equity, holding, trust types are specific labels and are more reliable where present.
• Shares are of brands, not of revenue or market share. Brandtree tracks well-known consumer brands, so the sample is not every brand in a sector.
• A brand under a listed parent is counted as public even if a family or fund controls the parent's votes.
• Brands with only licence or minority ownership (256) are not in any denominator.
• No causes are claimed: a high share in a sector reflects what is recorded for the brands tracked.