MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc.

What does MSC Industrial Direct own?
MSC operates primarily under a single brand, MSC Industrial Supply, through which it sells more than two million metalworking and MRO products. It also owns the Class C Solutions Group for OEM supply programs and several private-label product lines.

Is MSC Industrial Direct publicly traded?
Yes. The company has been listed on the NYSE under the ticker MSM since 1995. It remains majority institutionally owned, with the founding Jacobson family holding a minority stake.

Who founded MSC Industrial Direct?
Sidney Jacobson founded the company in 1941 as Sid Tool Company in New York City, selling cutting tools to machine shops. His grandson, Erik Gershwind, is the current president and CEO.

Where is MSC Industrial Direct headquartered?
The company maintains dual headquarters in Melville, New York, its historic base, and Davidson, North Carolina, added in 2021 to support the southern customer base.

How many brands does MSC Industrial Direct own?
MSC functions as a single-brand company. Its customer-facing identity is MSC Industrial Supply, supported by private-label lines such as Accupro and Hertel.

Who owns MSC Industrial Direct?
Public shareholders own the company through its NYSE listing. The Jacobson family retains a significant minority position, and institutional investors hold most remaining shares.

What was MSC Industrial Direct's revenue in 2026?
Net sales were $4.01 billion for the fiscal year ended August 29, 2026, up 6.4% from $3.77 billion in fiscal 2025.

Sidney Jacobson founded Sid Tool Company in 1941 in New York City, selling cutting tools to local machine shops. The business grew through the postwar manufacturing boom by specializing in the metalworking niche most distributors treated as a sideline.

The company rebranded as MSC Industrial Direct in the 1990s as it built a national catalog and direct-mail operation modeled on the master catalog, a phonebook-sized listing that became a fixture in American machine shops. It went public on the NYSE in December 1995 under the ticker MSM.

Acquisitions expanded the footprint. The 2006 purchase of J&L Industrial Supply added depth in the Midwest. The 2013 acquisition of Barnes Distribution North America, renamed MSC's Class C Solutions Group, pushed the company into fasteners and vendor-managed inventory services for OEM customers.

In 2021 the company added a second headquarters in Davidson, North Carolina, near Charlotte, reflecting a southward shift in its customer and talent base while retaining Melville as the corporate domicile. CEO Erik Gershwind, grandson of founder Sidney Jacobson, has led the company since 2013.

For the fiscal year ended August 29, 2026, MSC reported net sales of $4.01 billion, up 6.4% from $3.77 billion in fiscal 2025, and net income attributable to the company of $222.6 million. Adjusted diluted earnings per share rose to $4.69 from $3.76.

MSC has a relatively clean regulatory record for a company of its size. It has faced routine commercial litigation and employment disputes typical of large distributors, none of which produced material findings against the company.

In fiscal 2026 the company recorded $43.7 million in asset impairment and related charges, disclosed in its annual report, connected to restructuring and network rationalization. The charge was an accounting event rather than a regulatory matter.