Who Brands Blog

Mars wrote Freedom into its corporate principles. IKEA is owned by a Dutch foundation. Aldi is split between two family branches. Discover how family-owned companies resist acquisition and why it matters. Explore our database.

Amazon started in a garage. Google in a dorm. Inditex with one dress shop. Discover how small brands scale from garage to conglomerate with the acquisitions, IPOs, and strategies that built empires. Explore our database.

Olipop went from $200M to $1.85B valuation in 3 years. Skims reached $5B. Discover how venture capital shapes brand ownership and why the brands you buy are increasingly VC-owned. Explore our database.

Rhode sold for $1B in under 3 years. Gruns sold for $1.2B. What makes startup brands attractive to acquirers? Discover how startup brands attract acquisition interest in 2026. Explore our database.

SAMBAZON directed $1.9M into Amazon communities. Alaffia employs 10,000+ in West African cooperatives. Mountain Rose Herbs is independently owned. Discover fair trade brands and the companies behind them. Explore our database.

Unilever targets net zero by 2039. Nestle by 2050. P&G by 2040. But targets and results are different things. Discover which conglomerates have the strongest sustainability commitments. Explore our database.

BP sold Archaea Energy. Shell sold its renewables portfolio. Nestle spun off its water business. But are these ESG divestments or greenwashing? Discover brands divested for ethical or ESG reasons. Explore our database.

When one brand in a portfolio scandals, the parent's other brands suffer too. Discover how parent company ethics affect sub-brands with research on reputation spillover and real corporate examples. Explore our database.

Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox. Tom's of Maine is owned by Colgate. Ben & Jerry's is owned by Unilever. Discover what happens when ethical brands get acquired by less ethical corporations.

Ben & Jerry's lost B Corp status after Unilever bought it. Seventh Generation kept theirs. Patagonia created a new ownership model. Discover B Corp brands and who owns them, and why certification matters.

Walmart gave $1.97B. General Mills donated $83M. Clorox ranked #36 most charitable. Discover the most charitable parent companies and the brands in their portfolios.

Capgemini sold its ICE-linked subsidiary. Nestle returned Ankerkraut to its founders. Reckitt exited Russia. Discover companies that gave away brands for ethical reasons, and why.