Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate-Palmolive (the United States, NYSE: CL), which acquired the brand on 1 May 2006 for $100 million.[1][2] Tom's of Maine was founded in 1970 in the United States and was independent until 2006.
Evidence: Colgate-Palmolive Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-23, SEC EDGAR, 23 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Tom's of Maine was founded in 1970 by Tom and Kate Chappell, who made personal care products without artificial ingredients and published their full ingredient lists long before that was common. Colgate-Palmolive acquired a controlling stake in 2006 for $100 million while leaving the founders in operational control.
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.
The USPTO record for the Tom's of Maine mark lists Tom's of Maine, Inc. as the owner of record (serial number 77980376). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.[3]
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full Colgate-Palmolive ownership tree →
See the full Colgate-Palmolive brand portfolio (15) →
Colgate-Palmolive controls 15 brands on Brandtree, 10 of them in personal care & beauty.
Colgate-Palmolive has more brands in toothpaste & toothbrushes on Brandtree than any other owner: 5 of 42.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Desensin | Dentaid | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| Close-Up | Unilever | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Parodontax | Haleon | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Pepsodent (United States) | Church & Dwight | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bioniq | Dr. Wolff Group | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| CLINICA | Lion | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Elgydium | Pierre Fabre | 🇫🇷 France |
| Crest | Procter & Gamble | 🇺🇸 United States |
Colgate-Palmolive is a publicly listed company headquartered in New York, United States, founded in 1806. Brandtree records 15 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: CL.
Colgate-Palmolive traces to a New York soap and candle business started in 1806 and took its present form in 1928. Oral care is its largest business, and its Hill's Pet Nutrition subsidiary is a major veterinary pet food maker.
Colgate-Palmolive: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
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; Tom's of Maine is not one of them.
Colgate-Palmolive bought 84 per cent of Tom's of Maine for about $100 million, leaving the founders with the rest. Tom's had been built on natural ingredients and a refusal to test on animals, and the sale to a mass-market giant was contentious among the customers it had attracted on exactly those grounds.
The parent company of Tom's of Maine is Colgate-Palmolive, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Yes. Tom's of Maine originated in the United States in 1970 and its owner, Colgate-Palmolive, is also headquartered in the United States.
Colgate-Palmolive completed its acquisition of Tom's of Maine on 1 May 2006, after announcing the deal on 21 March 2006. The deal was valued at $100 million.
Tom's of Maine was an independent company from its founding in 1970 until Colgate-Palmolive acquired it in 2006.
Yes. As of 4 October 2026, Tom's of Maine is still owned by Colgate-Palmolive. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
Report a correction Opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. See our corrections policy.
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