Who owns WD-40?
WD-40 is owned by WD-40 Company (the United States, NASDAQ: WDFC).[1]
Evidence: WD-40 Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2025-10-27, SEC EDGAR, 27 October 2025. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- WD-40 Company verified
- Owner HQ
- 🇺🇸 United States, San Diego, California
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States, San Diego, California
- Founded
- 1953
- Category
- Home care › Household goods & storage › Adhesives & repair
- Parent ticker
- NASDAQ: WDFC
- Last verified
- · 1 sources
About WD-40
WD-40 is a water-displacing spray used to loosen seized parts, displace moisture and prevent corrosion. The formula has never been patented, because a patent would have required disclosing it; the company has kept it a trade secret for more than seventy years.
Ownership timeline of WD-40
- Current owner WD-40 Company [1] verified
Where WD-40 sits in WD-40 Company
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full WD-40 Company ownership tree →
See the full WD-40 Company brand portfolio (4) →
Other brands owned by WD-40 Company
WD-40 Company controls 4 brands on Brandtree, 3 of them in home care.
Also in home care
Other brands in adhesives & repair, and who owns them
The 18 brands in adhesives & repair on Brandtree belong to 9 owners. The largest is H.B. Fuller, with 3; WD-40 Company has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| EternaBond | H.B. Fuller | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Loctite | Henkel | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Fevicol | Pidilite | 🇮🇳 India |
| Command | 3M | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Bison | Bolton Group | 🇮🇹 Italy |
| tesa | Beiersdorf | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Penguin | Sunstar | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| Swiss Army Knife | Victorinox | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
About the owner: WD-40 Company
WD-40 Company is a publicly listed company headquartered in San Diego, California, United States, founded in 1953. Brandtree records 4 brands under its control, and it is listed as NASDAQ: WDFC.
WD-40 Company was founded in San Diego in 1953 as the Rocket Chemical Company, and its single product succeeded on the fortieth attempt at a water displacing formula, which is where the name comes from. It was developed to prevent corrosion on Atlas missile skins before employees started taking cans home.
WD-40 Company: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇺🇸 WD-40 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; WD-40 is not one of them.
- Air Wick — Reckitt 🇬🇧
- 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 WD-40?
The parent company of WD-40 is WD-40 Company, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Is WD-40 American?
Yes. WD-40 originated in the United States in 1953 and its owner, WD-40 Company, is also headquartered in the United States.
Is WD-40 still owned by WD-40 Company?
Yes. As of 16 September 2026, WD-40 is still owned by WD-40 Company. 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] WD-40 Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2025-10-27 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 27 October 2025; retrieved 16 September 2026.
Report a correction Opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. See our corrections policy.