Ownership changes and holding periods
168 brands on Brandtree have had two or more owners on record, and where both dates are known an owner held a brand for a median of 16.7 years (135 dated holding periods). 26 changes of owner are dated in the last three years, since 16 October 2023.
Only dated links count here. Of the 11,970 brands with a current controlling owner, just 2,092 (17.5%) have a start date on that link, and earlier owners are recorded for only some brands, so the true number of brands that have changed hands is higher than 168. This is a count of what Brandtree has recorded, as of , not of the market. Consolidation over time covers changes of ultimate owner by year.
How this is computed
The data is the controlling ownership links recorded on each brand (owned or majority-owned, verified or reported, not limited to one territory). A brand is counted when those links name two or more different holders, at least one link has ended and one is current. 3 brands with an ended link and no current holder are left out. The holder is the entity named on the brand's link, which can be a subsidiary, so a brand sold between two companies in the same group still counts, while a brand that moved only because its parent company was bought does not. A change is dated by the end date of the earlier link. A holding period is the time from a link's start date to its end date and is worked out only where both exist: 135 of 174 ended links qualify, and 39 have an end date but no start date and are excluded. The current owner's time is not included because it has not ended. Dates given only to the year (January 1) are common, which is true of 53.3% of the periods, so lengths are good to about a year.
The brands that changed hands most often
6 brands have had 3 owners on record, the most any brand has here. The other 162 have had fewer. A brand with a long list of owners is rarer than the record suggests: history is added for the few brands where a filing or deal names the earlier owner.
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Ben & Jerry's 2 changes
Ben & Jerry's Homemade (1978–2000) → Unilever (2000–2025) → The Magnum Ice Cream Company (2025–now)
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Cadbury 2 changes
Cadbury plc (?–2010) → Kraft Foods (2010–2012) → Mondelēz (2012–now)
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Carlton Draught 2 changes
SABMiller (2011–2016) → AB InBev (2016–2020) → Asahi Group (2020–now)
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Peroni 2 changes
SABMiller (2003–2016) → AB InBev (2016–2016) → Asahi Group (2016–now)
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Victoria Bitter 2 changes
SABMiller (2011–2016) → AB InBev (2016–2020) → Asahi Group (2020–now)
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Wella Professionals 2 changes
Procter & Gamble (2003–2016) → Coty (2016–2020) → Wella Company (2020–now)
How long owners held a brand
Across 135 ended holdings with both dates, the median is 16.7 years. Half fall between 7.4 and 28.6 years, and the range runs from under a year to 184 years. These are holdings that ended, so they leave out owners who still hold their brands and skew shorter than a brand's full life.
| Held for | Holdings | Holdings, as a bar |
|---|---|---|
| under 5 years | 21 | |
| 5 to under 10 | 22 | |
| 10 to under 25 | 51 | |
| 25 to under 50 | 21 | |
| 50 years or more | 20 |
Shortest holdings
- Peroni, AB InBev: 0 years (Oct 2016 to Oct 2016)
- Meantime, SABMiller: 1.4 years (May 2015 to Oct 2016)
- Siggi's, Danone: 2 years (Jan 2016 to Jan 2018)
- Kettle Brand, Snyder's-Lance: 2.1 years (Feb 2016 to Mar 2018)
- Aidells, Hillshire Brands: 2.2 years (Jun 2012 to Aug 2014)
- Ball Park, Hillshire Brands: 2.2 years (Jun 2012 to Aug 2014)
- Hillshire Farm, Hillshire Brands: 2.2 years (Jun 2012 to Aug 2014)
- State Fair, Hillshire Brands: 2.2 years (Jun 2012 to Aug 2014)
- Wright Brand, Hillshire Brands: 2.2 years (Jun 2012 to Aug 2014)
- Jim Beam, Beam: 2.6 years (Oct 2011 to Apr 2014)
A very short holding usually means the brand passed through a company that was itself bought soon after, not that an owner gave up a brand quickly.
Longest holdings
- Tiffany & Co., Tiffany & Co. (company): 184 years (1837–2021)
- Budweiser, Anheuser-Busch: 132.9 years (1876–2008)
- Johnson's Baby, Johnson & Johnson: 130.6 years (1893–2023)
- Pacífico, Grupo Modelo: 113.4 years (1900–2013)
- Gillette, The Gillette Company: 104.7 years (1901–2005)
- Band-Aid, Johnson & Johnson: 103.6 years (1920–2023)
- Black+Decker, Black & Decker Corporation: 100.2 years (1910–2010)
- Blue Band, Unilever: 95.5 years (1923–2018)
- Rama, Unilever: 94.5 years (1924–2018)
- Crunch, Nestlé: 90.2 years (1928–2018)
Which categories change hands most
Food has the most brands with a change on record (78). By share of the category's brands the leader is Consumer health, restricted to categories with at least 50 brands. Shares use brands with a current controlling owner as the base. A category with few records or little recorded history shows low figures because the history is missing, not because nothing changed. Median holding is shown only from the dated periods listed, so small counts are unreliable.
| Category | Brands changed | Brands changed, as a bar | Of brands | Share | Median held (years) | Dated periods |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food | 78 | 2,153 | 3.6% | 15.1 | 56 | |
| Beverages | 26 | 1,303 | 2% | 13.4 | 25 | |
| Personal care & beauty | 24 | 599 | 4% | 21.6 | 17 | |
| Consumer health | 10 | 124 | 8.1% | 16.7 | 10 | |
| Home care | 8 | 406 | 2% | 9.4 | 7 | |
| Apparel, footwear & accessories | 8 | 579 | 1.4% | 26 | 8 | |
| Restaurants & foodservice | 7 | 162 | 4.3% | 19.8 | 7 | |
| Internet & digital | 4 | 633 | 0.6% | 5 | 3 | |
| Home, garden & DIY | 3 | 746 | 0.4% | 47.3 | 2 |
Changes in the last three years
26 dated changes of owner fall between 16 October 2023 and 16 October 2026: 4 in 2026, 16 in 2025, 4 in 2024, 2 in 2023. Each date is the end of the earlier owner's link. Changes that Brandtree has not yet dated, or whose earlier owner is not recorded, are not here, and a recent sale may be missing until its filing is added. Several brands moving in one deal appear on separate rows.