Who owns Calgon?
Calgon is owned by Reckitt (the United Kingdom, LSE: RKT).[1]
This ownership is reported in official statements but has not yet been matched to a regulatory filing.
Evidence: Reckitt Benckiser Group plc Annual Report and Accounts 2025, 5 March 2026 (archived copy). Last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- Reckitt Benckiser Group plc reported
- Owner HQ
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, Slough
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Founded
- 1933
- Category
- Home care › Laundry › Fabric softener & stain removal
- Parent ticker
- LSE: RKT
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About Calgon
Calgon is a water softener added to washing machines to prevent limescale, sold on the argument that hard water damages machines and reduces detergent performance. The brand dates to 1933, and its advertising in hard-water markets has run essentially unchanged for decades.
Ownership timeline of Calgon
Where Calgon sits in Reckitt
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Reckitt ownership tree →
See the full Reckitt brand portfolio (20) →
Other brands owned by Reckitt
Reckitt controls 20 brands on Brandtree, 8 of them in home care.
Also in home care
Founded in the 1930s
- Dettol (1932)
Other brands in fabric softener & stain removal, and who owns them
The 20 brands in fabric softener & stain removal on Brandtree belong to 15 owners. The largest is Faultless Brands, with 3; Reckitt has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Faultless | Faultless Brands | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Miss Mouth's Messy Eater | Church & Dwight | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bounce | Procter & Gamble | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Scotchgard | 3M | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Herbmarie 1848 | Aekyung | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Mon Bijou | Bombril | 🇧🇷 Brazil |
| Suavitel | Colgate-Palmolive | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Suavissimo | Dinant | 🇭🇳 Honduras |
Every brand in fabric softener & stain removal and its owner →
About the owner: Reckitt
Reckitt is a publicly listed company headquartered in Slough, United Kingdom, founded in 1999. Brandtree records 20 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: RKT.
Reckitt was formed in 1999 by the merger of Britain's Reckitt & Colman with the Dutch-German Benckiser. It concentrates on hygiene, health and nutrition, and has been shrinking its portfolio since a difficult acquisition of infant formula maker Mead Johnson in 2017.
🇺🇸 Calgon and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Calgon among them.
- 3-IN-ONE — WD-40 Company 🇺🇸
- Ajax — Colgate-Palmolive 🇺🇸
- All-Clad — Groupe SEB 🇫🇷
- Amazon Basics — Amazon 🇺🇸
- American Girl — Mattel 🇺🇸
- Arm & Hammer — Church & Dwight 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Calgon?
The parent company of Calgon is Reckitt, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Is Calgon American or British?
Calgon originated in the United States in 1933, but it is owned today by Reckitt, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So Calgon is an American-origin brand under British ownership.
Is Calgon still owned by Reckitt?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, Calgon is still owned by Reckitt. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (1) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] Reckitt Benckiser Group plc Annual Report and Accounts 2025 — Reckitt Benckiser Group plc, Annual report, published 5 March 2026; retrieved 23 October 2026. The original address no longer opens it, so the link goes to an archived copy (original address).
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