Brandtree

Colgate-Palmolive: brands it owns and its ownership tree

Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) is a publicly listed company headquartered in New York, United States that owns 15 consumer brands across 3 categories, and has 4 recorded transactions.[1]

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.

Company facts

Legal name
Colgate-Palmolive Company
Type
publicly listed company · see all publicly listed company owners
Headquarters
🇺🇸 New York, United States
Founded
1806
Tickers
NYSE: CL
SEC CIK
0000021665
Wikidata
Q1096327
Website
www.colgatepalmolive.com
Last verified
· 5 sources

Colgate-Palmolive in numbers

Everything Colgate-Palmolive owns

2026

Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.

Everything Colgate-Palmolive owns Tree of 15 brands under Colgate-Palmolive. Colgate-Palmolive Ajax Colgate Colgate Total elmex Fabuloso Filorga Hill's Pet Nutrition meridol and 7 more

Full-screen interactive tree → · Download as infographic

Brand portfolio by category

Full portfolio, 15 brands, with sources →

Acquisitions by Colgate-Palmolive

Acquisition closed

Colgate-Palmolive acquires Filorga

Colgate-Palmolive acquired the French skincare brand Filorga for about €1.69 billion, its largest acquisition. It was an attempt to move into higher-margin premium skin care, a category dominated by L'Oréal and Estée Lauder.

Value
€1.69bn
Seller
Regulatory
None recorded
Acquisition closed

Colgate-Palmolive acquires Sanex

Colgate-Palmolive bought Sanex from Unilever for about EUR 672 million. Unilever was selling because competition authorities required it to divest Sanex before it could complete its purchase of Sara Lee's personal care business, so one company's remedy became another's acquisition.

Value
€672m
Seller
Unilever
Regulatory
None recorded
Acquisition closed

Colgate-Palmolive acquires Tom's of Maine

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.

Value
$100m
Seller
Regulatory
None recorded
Acquisition closed

Colgate-Palmolive acquires meridol and elmex

Colgate-Palmolive acquired GABA Holding, a Swiss oral care company selling elmex and meridol through European pharmacies. The purchase gave Colgate a pharmacy channel and a specialist reputation in Europe that its mass-market toothpaste could not reach on its own. The price was not disclosed.

Value
Undisclosed
Seller
Regulatory
None recorded

Full ownership and deal history →

Latest news about Colgate-Palmolive

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Frequently asked questions

What brands does Colgate-Palmolive own?

Colgate-Palmolive owns 15 consumer brands tracked here, including Colgate, Hill's Pet Nutrition, Palmolive, Ajax, Fabuloso and Suavitel.

Is Colgate-Palmolive an American company?

Yes. Colgate-Palmolive is headquartered in New York, United States and was founded in 1806.

Who owns Colgate-Palmolive?

Colgate-Palmolive is a publicly listed company owned by its shareholders; it trades as CL on the NYSE.

What was Colgate-Palmolive's most recent acquisition?

The most recent completed acquisition recorded here is Filorga on 31 July 2019.

Sources (5) & 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. [1] Colgate-Palmolive Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-02-23 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 23 February 2026; retrieved 8 September 2026.
  2. [2] Colgate-Palmolive Company Form 10-K - GABA Holding acquisition — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 28 February 2005; retrieved 8 September 2026.
  3. [3] Colgate-Palmolive Company Form 8-K — acquisition of Filorga — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 8-K, published 31 July 2019; retrieved 8 September 2026.
  4. [4] Colgate-Palmolive Company Form 10-K - Sanex acquisition — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 16 February 2012; retrieved 8 September 2026.
  5. [5] Colgate-Palmolive Company Form 8-K - acquisition of Tom's of Maine — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 8-K, published 1 May 2006; retrieved 8 September 2026.

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