Brands Your Parents Loved and Who Owns Them Today

The vacuum cleaner your mother pushed across the living room carpet for 30 years is now owned by a Hong Kong multinational. The camera your father used to photograph your childhood was carved up in bankruptcy court and is being sold to a German photo company. The instant camera that defined the 1970s belongs to a Polish businessman who revived it from the dead.

Hoover, Kodak, Polaroid, Maytag, RCA, Westinghouse. These were not just brands your parents bought. They were American institutions. Today many of them are owned by foreign conglomerates, private equity firms, or split into pieces across multiple continents. The name on the product is the same. The corporate parent behind it is completely different.

We traced what happened to six brands your parents trusted. The ownership journeys reveal how iconic American companies from the 1950s through the 1970s were acquired, broken apart, licensed, and sold to buyers halfway around the world. For more on the brands that defined later decades, see our 90s brands you loved and who owns them now and 80s brands that still exist and who owns them.

The Brands That Built Your Parents' World

Your parents grew up in an America where the leading brands were also the leading companies. Hoover made vacuum cleaners in North Canton, Ohio. Kodak employed 145,000 people in Rochester, New York at its peak. Polaroid invented instant photography in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Maytag built washing machines in Newton, Iowa. RCA defined American radio and television from Camden, New Jersey. Westinghouse competed with Edison from Pittsburgh.

These brands felt permanent. They were not.

Between 1986 and 2026, every one of them was acquired, broken up, or sold to a foreign owner. Some went through bankruptcy. Some were split into pieces and sold to different buyers on different continents. One brand, Hoover, ended up with two separate owners for two separate regions of the world.

The pattern is consistent. An iconic American brand hits financial trouble. A larger company or private equity firm acquires it. The acquirer either sells off pieces, licenses the name, or loads it with debt. The brand survives. The original company behind it does not. Use WhoBrands.com to trace what happened to the brands your parents trusted.

Hoover: Split Between Hong Kong and China

The Hoover Company was founded in Ohio in 1908. For most of the 20th century it was the vacuum cleaner brand in America. In the UK and Ireland the word "hoover" became colloquially synonymous with "vacuum cleaner." The brand became a verb.

Then the corporate unraveling began. Hoover North America was once part of Maytag. When Whirlpool Corporation acquired Maytag in 2006, Whirlpool did not keep Hoover. It sold Hoover North America to Hong Kong multinational manufacturing company Techtronic Industries (TTI) in 2007 for $107 million.

Hoover International had already split from Hoover North America in 1993. The international business was acquired by Candy in 1995, and Candy was acquired by Haier in 2018.

One brand. Two owners. Two continents.

Hoover North America is owned by Techtronic Industries, the Hong Kong company that also owns Milwaukee, Ryobi, and Dirt Devil. Hoover Europe is owned by Haier, the Chinese appliance giant that also owns GE Appliances in the United States. The brand that became a verb in two countries is now foreign-owned on both sides of the Atlantic.

Kodak: From Rochester to German Photo Company

Kodak employed 145,000 people at its peak in 1988. By 2012 the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The brand that taught America how to take pictures could not survive the transition to digital photography.

The bankruptcy split Kodak into pieces. Eastman Kodak Company survived as a commercial printing business, still publicly traded (NYSE: KODK). The consumer photo business was spun off as Kodak Alaris, a British company with a license to use the Kodak name. Kodak Alaris was not "Kodak" in the sense that it was a reformulated Eastman Kodak Company. It was a separate entity created to take on some of Kodak's pension obligations.

In 2020, Kingswood Capital Management, a Los Angeles private equity firm, acquired Kodak Alaris from the UK Pension Protection Fund. Then in July 2026, CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA, a German photo company, signed an agreement to acquire the Kodak Moments Retail Photo Solutions business unit from Kodak Alaris.

The deal values Kodak Moments at approximately €88 million in enterprise value, with CEWE expecting to pay roughly €72 million depending on net debt and working capital at closing. The transaction was signed on July 16, 2026 and is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. Kodak Moments operates about 37,000 connected photo stations in 16,000 retail locations across 54 countries and generates roughly €200 million in annual revenue with about 500 employees.

The brand your parents used to capture memories is becoming a German-owned photo kiosk business. CEWE plans to use the acquisition to expand beyond Europe into the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Australia, and to gain vertical integration through Kodak Moments' thermal-media manufacturing plant in Windsor, Colorado.

Polaroid: From Bankruptcy to Polish Revival

Polaroid went bankrupt twice, in 2001 and 2008. The brand passed through the hands of Tom Petters, who was later convicted of running a $3.65 billion Ponzi scheme. It then went to Patriarch Partners, the firm run by Lynn Tilton. None of these owners could figure out what to do with an instant camera brand in a digital world.

The revival came from an unlikely source. A group of Dutch and Austrian enthusiasts calling themselves The Impossible Project bought Polaroid's old film factory in Enschede, Netherlands in 2008 and started manufacturing instant film again. Around 2012, Wiaczesław "Slava" Smolokowski, a Polish businessman and co-founder of Mercuria Energy Group, became the largest investor in The Impossible Project.

In May 2017, the Smolokowski family acquired PLR IP Holdings, the entity that owned the Polaroid brand and all related intellectual property, from a consortium that included the Pohlad family, Gordon Brothers, and Hilco Global. The Impossible Project was rebranded as Polaroid Originals in September 2017, then shortened to simply Polaroid in March 2020. A new parent company, Polaroid B.V., was established in 2018 and is headquartered in Amsterdam. Slava's son Oskar Smolokowski is the CEO.

As of 2026, Polaroid is privately held and owned entirely by the Smolokowski family. The company is now planning to open a production facility and technology center in Bydgoszcz, Poland, expected no earlier than 2027. The instant camera brand your parents loved is owned by a Polish investor who literally revived it from the dead.

Maytag: Killed by Whirlpool Acquisition

Maytag was the reliability brand. The Maytag Repairman, introduced in 1967, was one of the most iconic advertising characters in American history. The joke was that Maytag machines broke so rarely that the repairman had nothing to do.

Whirlpool Corporation acquired Maytag in 2006 for $2.6 billion. Whirlpool then sold Hoover North America to TTI in 2007, keeping the Maytag brand for itself. The Maytag brand still exists today as a Whirlpool subsidiary, positioned as a premium laundry and kitchen appliance line alongside Whirlpool's own brand, KitchenAid, and JennAir.

Maytag is publicly traded through its parent. Whirlpool Corporation trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker WHR. The brand your parents trusted for reliability is now a sub-brand of its former rival. The Newton, Iowa headquarters closed. The repairman retired.

RCA: From American Icon to Chinese License

RCA was once one of America's most powerful companies. It owned NBC, it pioneered color television, and its Victor brand defined recorded music. General Electric acquired RCA in 1986 for $6.4 billion, primarily to get NBC.

GE sold RCA's consumer electronics business to Thomson, a French company, in 1987. Thomson sold its RCA television business to TCL, a Chinese company, in 2004. Today the RCA brand is managed by RCA Brand Licensing, which is owned by Technicolor, the French media company that absorbed Thomson.

RCA is now a licensed brand. The name appears on Chinese-made televisions, tablets, and accessories manufactured by various licensees who pay for the right to use a name that once defined American broadcasting. The brand that put television into American living rooms is now a licensing fee paid to a French company.

Westinghouse: From American Industrial Giant to Canadian PE

Westinghouse Electric was founded by George Westinghouse in 1886. It competed directly with Thomas Edison in the early days of electricity. Westinghouse won the contract to install AC power at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair and built the generators at Niagara Falls.

The brand went through a long decline. CBS acquired Westinghouse in 1995. CBS sold the nuclear business to British Nuclear Fuels in 1999, which sold it to Toshiba in 2006 for $5.4 billion. Toshiba's Westinghouse subsidiary filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after massive cost overruns on nuclear plant projects.

Brookfield Business Partners, a Canadian private equity firm, acquired Westinghouse from Toshiba in 2018 for $4.6 billion. Westinghouse is now a Canadian PE-owned nuclear services company headquartered in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania. The brand that competed with Edison is now owned by a Toronto-based investment firm.

The Ownership Pattern: American Icons Go Foreign

The pattern is clear. Iconic American brands from the 1950s through the 1970s have been acquired, split, licensed, and sold to foreign conglomerates and private equity firms.

Hoover went to Hong Kong and China. Kodak is going to Germany. RCA went to France. Westinghouse went to Canada. Maytag went to its former rival in Michigan. Only Polaroid went to a private owner who actually cared enough to revive the product.

Use WhoBrands.com to discover which of your parents' favorite brands are still American-owned and which have gone foreign. The answer is usually the latter.

What This Means for Brand Ownership

The brands your parents loved have had the most dramatic ownership journeys in American business history. Many were American icons that went through bankruptcy, acquisition, and foreign ownership. The brand name on the product is the same. The corporate parent behind it is completely different.

When you buy a Hoover vacuum today, the profit flows to Hong Kong or China depending on where you live. When you print photos at a Kodak Moments kiosk, the revenue is heading to a German company in Oldenburg. When you buy an RCA television, a French media company collects a licensing fee. The brands have never been more numerous. The companies behind them have never been fewer.

The lesson for consumers is simple. The name on the box is not the owner. The owner determines everything about the brand: where it is manufactured, how it is supported, what quality standards apply, and where the profits go. Want to see who owns the brands from your own childhood? Check our toys from your childhood and who makes them now guide. Want to see which brands disappeared entirely? Read our discontinued brands we miss breakdown.

FAQ

Who owns Hoover?

Hoover is split between two owners. Hoover North America is owned by Techtronic Industries (HKEX: 669), a Hong Kong manufacturing company that also owns Milwaukee and Ryobi. Hoover Europe is owned by Haier (SH: 600690), the Chinese appliance giant that also owns GE Appliances. The two halves of the brand have been separate since 1993.

Is Kodak still an American company?

No. Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE: KODK) survives as a small commercial printing business in Rochester. The consumer photo business, Kodak Alaris, is owned by Kingswood Capital Management, a Los Angeles private equity firm. The Kodak Moments retail photo business is being acquired by CEWE, a German company, in a deal signed July 2026 and expected to close in the first half of 2027.

What happened to Polaroid?

Polaroid is now owned by the Smolokowski family, a Polish-Austrian business dynasty. Wiaczesław "Slava" Smolokowski acquired the brand in May 2017 through PLR IP Holdings. His son Oskar is CEO of Polaroid B.V., headquartered in Amsterdam. The company plans to open a production facility in Bydgoszcz, Poland by 2027.

Who owns Westinghouse?

Westinghouse is owned by Brookfield Business Partners (TSX: BBU), a Canadian private equity firm. Brookfield acquired Westinghouse from Toshiba in 2018 for $4.6 billion after Toshiba's nuclear plant cost overruns pushed Westinghouse into bankruptcy in 2017.

Explore Related Brands

• Hoover - Vacuum cleaner brand, split between TTI (North America) and Haier (Europe)
• Kodak - Photography brand, with Kodak Moments being acquired by CEWE (Germany)
• Polaroid - Instant camera brand, owned by the Smolokowski family (Poland)
• Maytag - Appliance brand, owned by Whirlpool Corporation
• RCA - Electronics brand, licensed by Technicolor (France)
• Westinghouse - Nuclear and industrial brand, owned by Brookfield (Canada)

Browse all household and consumer goods brands →

Sources

1. Wikipedia: The Hoover Company -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hoover_Company 2. BusinessWire: Kodak Alaris Announces Acquisition by Kingswood Capital Management -- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200930Kingswood 3. CEWE Stiftung & Co. KGaA: CEWE Agrees to Acquire Kodak Alaris' Global Instant Photo Business (July 16, 2026) -- https://www.eqs-news.com/news/ad-hoc/cewe-stiftung-co-kgaa-cewe-agrees-to-acquire-kodak-alaris-global-instant-photo-business 4. Kirkland & Ellis: Kirkland Advises Kingswood Capital Management and Kodak Alaris on Sale of Kodak Alaris's Global Instant Photo Business (July 17, 2026) -- https://www.kirkland.com/news/press-release/2026/07/kirkland-advises-kcm-and-kodak-alaris-on-sale-of-kodak-alaris-global-instant-photo-business 5. Gordon Brothers: Polaroid Acquired by New Ownership Group -- https://www.gordonbrothers.com/press-release/polaroid-acquired-by-new-ownership-group/ 6. LegalClarity: Who Owns Polaroid? Current Owner and Company History (June 9, 2026) -- https://legalclarity.org/who-owns-polaroid-current-owner-and-company-history/ 7. Forbes Poland: Polak uratował markę Polaroid -- https://www.forbes.pl/life/wydarzenia/polak-uratowal-marke-polaroid-kultowe-aparaty-beda-produkowane-w-bydgoszczy/v4tbdeh 8. Wikipedia: Polaroid Originals / Polaroid B.V. -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaroid_Originals 9. The Dead Pixels Society: CEWE acquires Kodak Alaris's global Kodak Moments business -- https://www.thedeadpixelssociety.com/

All brand ownership data verified through WhoBrands.com research methodology. Last updated: September 2026.

About WhoBrands

WhoBrands.com provides accurate, comprehensive brand ownership information through extensive research of SEC filings, corporate press releases, and official company documents. Our database covers thousands of brands across dozens of industries. Learn about our methodology.