Listerine is owned by Kenvue (the United States, NYSE: KVUE), which was separated from Johnson & Johnson on 23 August 2023.[1][2] Before Kenvue, Listerine was owned by Johnson & Johnson from 2006 to 2023.[2]
Listerine was formulated in 1879 as a surgical antiseptic and named after Joseph Lister, the pioneer of antiseptic surgery. It was sold as a floor cleaner and a cure for gonorrhoea before its makers marketed it in the 1920s against halitosis, a campaign credited with popularising the very idea of bad breath as a social problem.
What Kenvue's annual report says about Listerine
Sentences about Listerine from Kenvue's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Our cosmetic products include certain products under our Aveeno , Neutrogena , Lubriderm , and Johnson's brands and certain of our Listerine mouthwash products.
Certain of our products marketed in the United States, such as BAND-AID Brand Adhesive Bandages (including Ourtone Adhesive Bandages) and Listerine Clinical Solutions Sensitive Teeth mouthrinse, are medical devices regulated by the FDA through a system that, unless exempt, requires us to receive premarket clearance for commercial distribution known as a 510(k) clearance.
How often Kenvue names Listerine in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central.
Kenvue is a publicly listed company headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, United States, founded in 2023. Brandtree records 13 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: KVUE.
Kenvue is the consumer health business separated from Johnson & Johnson, listed in May 2023 and fully split off that August. It holds the self-care, skin health and essential health brands that Johnson & Johnson had built up over a century. Kimberly-Clark agreed to acquire Kenvue in November 2025.
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,570 brands that began in the United States.
492 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Listerine is not one of them.
Kimberly-Clark agreed to acquire Kenvue for $3.50 in cash plus 0.14625 Kimberly-Clark shares for each Kenvue share, which would combine Huggies and Kleenex with Tylenol, Listerine and Neutrogena. Kimberly-Clark expects to issue about 280 million shares and pay about $6.7 billion in cash, leaving its existing shareholders with about 54 per cent of the combined company.
Johnson & Johnson separated its consumer health business as Kenvue, which listed in May 2023 and was fully split off through an exchange offer completed on 23 August 2023. Tylenol, Band-Aid, Listerine, Neutrogena and Johnson's Baby all moved to the new company.
Brandtree needs to remember this choice and does not set any other cookie unless you accept.
If you choose “Accept all”, we also use Google Analytics cookies to count visits and see which pages help, so we can improve the site.
If you choose “Accept required”, no analytics cookie is set. Google Analytics still receives a cookieless ping with the page address and your IP address. No advertising is used either way. Privacy policy