If you buy something through our links, ToolGuyd might earn an affiliate commission.
As a reminder, Dewalt and Milwaukee Tool are NOT owned by the same company.
A lot of you are of course saying “duh, of course, we know that!” but I keep coming across people asserting otherwise. I have had to correct reader comments on occasion, and I am also seeing similar misinformation on social media and online forums.
I probably need to make some updates, by you can refer to this post: Tool Brands: Who Owns What? A Guide to Corporate Affiliations for a breakdown as to which companies own which tool brands.
Stanley Black & Decker owns Dewalt, and Techtronic Industries (TTI) owns Milwaukee Tool. There is no notable crossover, partnership, or cooperative efforts between these companies.
This was all prompted by another recent reader comment that insists Dewalt, Makita, and Milwaukee are all owned by the same company. They’re not. And while Dewalt and Milwaukee have sibling tool brands, Makita is completely unrelated to any other tool brand.
There are also few parallels between Stanley Black & Decker and TTI’s corporate structures.
At Dewalt and Stanley Black & Decker, R&D efforts might cross brand lines. For instance, Dewalt T-Stak and Craftsman VersaStack tool storage products are largely similar. In these cases, the same storage team might develop products for both brands.
When it comes to Milwaukee Tool and TTI, there are collaborative efforts between Milwaukee and the brands they own – Stiletto, Empire Level, and Imperial Tool. However, the same is not true when it comes to Milwaukee’s sibling brands under TTI, such as Ryobi and Hart.
It sometimes appears that Milwaukee and their sibling tool brands work closely together, such as when Milwaukee, Ridgid*, and Ryobi all launch similar types of products in the same year, but we’ve asked several people and have been assured that it’s always just a coincidence.
* Ridgid isn’t really a TTI brand, but TTI develops their power tools under license for Home Depot. Here’s another link to my corporate affiliations post if you want to learn more.
So, there could be both dedicated and group efforts behind Dewalt’s tool developments, while Milwaukee tends to operate more autonomously. Neither approach is better or worse than the other, but this seemed like an appropriate place to discuss the matter. Personally, I find it interesting how the two brands can be so different behind the scenes.
See Also: Does Harbor Freight Own Snap-on Tools?
