ABB Ltd

Is ABB publicly traded?
Yes. ABB Ltd trades on the SIX Swiss Exchange as ABBN, Nasdaq Stockholm, and the NYSE as an ADR under the ticker ABB.

Who owns ABB?
ABB is a public company owned by institutional investors and other shareholders, with no controlling owner. Morten Wierod is CEO and Peter Voser chairs the board.

Where is ABB headquartered?
ABB is headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, reflecting the 1988 merger of Sweden's ASEA and Switzerland's Brown Boveri.

What does ABB make?
ABB makes electrical distribution equipment, switchgear, motors, drives, generators, industrial automation and control systems, and, until the SoftBank sale closes, industrial robots.

How much revenue does ABB make?
ABB reported fiscal 2025 revenue of $33,220 million, up 9 percent, with operational EBITA of $6,314 million at a 19.0 percent margin and net income of $4,734 million.

Why is ABB selling robotics?
ABB agreed to sell its Robotics division to SoftBank Group for $5.375 billion, judging the business had limited synergy with the rest of the group. The deal was announced in October 2025 and is expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.

ABB descends from ASEA, founded in Västerås, Sweden in 1883, and Brown, Boveri & Cie, founded in Baden, Switzerland in 1891. Both were pioneers of electrical power and heavy engineering. Their 1988 merger created ABB (ASEA Brown Boveri), then among Europe's largest industrial companies.

The 1990s brought global expansion through acquisition. The 2001 purchase of Combustion Engineering imported U.S. asbestos liabilities that, combined with debt from expansion, pushed ABB toward a 2002 liquidity crisis. The company survived by selling non-core assets, including its power transmission business, and refocusing on electrification, automation, and robotics.

The following two decades rebuilt ABB into a focused, decentralized industrial group. It acquired Thomas & Betts in 2012 for $3.9 billion, GE Industrial Solutions in 2018 for $2.6 billion, and B&R Industrial Automation in 2017, while spinning off Power Grids to Hitachi in 2020.

Under CEO Morten Wierod, an ABB veteran who took over in August 2024, the company produced record 2025 results: orders up 17 percent to $36.8 billion, revenue up 9 percent to $33.2 billion, and a 19.0 percent operational EBITA margin. The same year ABB reversed a planned robotics spin-off and instead agreed to sell the division to SoftBank for $5.375 billion, expected to close in mid-to-late 2026.

ABB maintains externally validated science-based targets and a goal of carbon neutrality in its operations, sourcing 98 percent renewable electricity. Its reporting through CDP and integrated annual reports covers safety, circularity, and supplier standards.

The company's products align with efficiency demand: drives and motors that reduce industrial energy consumption make sustainability a commercial selling point. It holds no B Corp certification.

ABB appears regularly on the Fortune World's Most Admired Companies list, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, and Corporate Knights rankings. It has been recognized for engineering innovation in grid technology, motors, and power systems.

ABB resolved its historic Combustion Engineering asbestos liabilities through a U.S. bankruptcy trust settlement exceeding $1 billion in the 2000s. The Kusile power station contracts in South Africa produced a major corruption investigation, with ABB repaying funds and settling with U.S. and South African authorities.

Other historical bribery investigations in various markets were resolved through settlements and compliance remediation. The robotics sale to SoftBank will undergo standard regulatory review in multiple jurisdictions through 2026.