CDW Corporation

What does CDW own?

CDW owns the CDW commercial IT brand, CDW Government for public sector customers, CDW Canada and CDW UK international operations, Sirius Computer Solutions acquired for $2.5 billion in 2021, Mission Cloud acquired in 2024, and Enquizit acquired in 2023. Its brands are sales channels and services firms rather than product manufacturers.

Is CDW publicly traded?

Yes. CDW trades on the Nasdaq under ticker CDW and is an S&P 500 component. It has been public twice: an initial 1993 IPO, a 2007 take-private by Madison Dearborn and Providence Equity for about $7 billion, and a return to public markets in 2013.

Who founded CDW?

Michael Krasny founded the company in 1984 as MPK Computing, run from his Buffalo Grove, Illinois, home and built on a single classified ad selling IBM-compatible computers. He renamed it Computer Discount Warehouse as mail-order volume grew. Krasny is no longer involved with the company.

Where is CDW headquartered?

CDW is headquartered in Vernon Hills, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, having moved from nearby Lincolnshire. It maintains additional operations and services centers across the United States, plus UK and Canadian operations under its international business.

How many brands does CDW own?

CDW operates approximately six principal brands and channel names: CDW, CDW Government, CDW Canada, CDW UK, Sirius Computer Solutions, and Mission Cloud, with Enquizit integrated into its AWS practice. Most are sales channels and services firms rather than separately marketed product lines.

Who owns CDW?

CDW is publicly owned, with shares distributed among institutional investors and index funds led by Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street. No founder or private equity owner remains; Madison Dearborn and Providence Equity exited after the 2013 re-IPO.

What were CDW's fiscal 2025 results?

For the year ended December 31, 2025, CDW reported net sales of $22.4 billion, up 6.8 percent, gross profit of $4.9 billion, GAAP operating income of $1.7 billion, GAAP EPS of $8.08, and non-GAAP EPS of $10.02. Small Business grew fastest at 13.3 percent, and Public reached $8.5 billion.

Michael Krasny founded the company in 1984 as MPK Computing, run from his home in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. The original operation was a single classified advertisement selling IBM-compatible computers; Krasny renamed it Computer Discount Warehouse as mail-order volume grew, building a catalog and phone-sales business riding the 1980s PC boom.

CDW went public in June 1993 on Nasdaq, using the proceeds to expand into direct corporate sales rather than consumer mail order, the pivot that defined the modern company. Through the 1990s and early 2000s it added dedicated account managers for business customers and launched CDW-G to pursue government, education, and healthcare accounts.

Private equity took the company private in October 2007, when Madison Dearborn and Providence Equity Partners acquired CDW for approximately $7 billion, adding Berbee Information Networks, a specialist in storage and networking services acquired by CDW in 2006, into the integrated business. CDW returned to public markets with a second IPO in June 2013 and has since joined the S&P 500.

International expansion came through acquisition: the purchase of Kelway, a UK IT reseller, in 2015 created CDW UK, complementing the established Canadian operation. The services push accelerated in the 2020s: CDW acquired Sirius Computer Solutions, a San Antonio IT solutions integrator, in December 2021 for $2.5 billion, its largest acquisition ever. It bought AWS specialist Enquizit in June 2023 and Mission Cloud Services, an AWS Premier Tier partner, in December 2024, folding both into CDW Digital Velocity as a dedicated AWS practice.

Fiscal 2025 tested the model with tariffs, education and healthcare funding shifts, changing government spending priorities, and the longest federal government shutdown on record. CDW still grew: net sales of $22.4 billion, up 6.8 percent, with growth across notebooks, software, desktops, services, and netcomm categories, and more than $2 billion of sales coming from each of its three largest vendor partners.

CDW publishes an annual ESG report covering environmental targets, supplier responsibility standards for its vendor base, and workforce programs, including science-aligned emissions reduction commitments for its Illinois operations and logistics.

The company is not B Corp certified, typical for a public IT reseller. Its social programs concentrate on technology access: CDW funds digital equity and STEM education initiatives in its school and community markets, consistent with a business whose customers are schools, hospitals, and governments.

CDW's public record is notably quiet for a $22 billion company. Its most visible scrutiny relates to federal contracting rather than misconduct: as a major government IT supplier its sales are sensitive to budget cycles and were directly affected by the record-length 2025 federal shutdown, which depressed Public segment timing.

The company has faced periodic shareholder proposals on political spending disclosure and executive pay common to S&P 500 issuers, and routine employment litigation appropriate to a 15,000-person workforce. No fraud finding, accounting restatement, or major regulatory enforcement action is on record as of November 2026.