Who Owns Philips?

It's incredible how powerful a brand name can be. In fact, some argue that the brand matters more than the product. Up for debate, of course, but you only need to look to Philips: a huge name back in the '70s and '80s that consumers today trust because the company was once synonymous with innovation (inventing the CD along with Sony is not just a minor footnote, after all). Today, there's no shortage of products under this banner. From positioning itself as one of the biggest TV brands and producing home appliances like air fryers and espresso machines to establishing a footing in healthcare technology, it truly seems like you can find anything Philips-branded if you dig far enough. Is the company European? Who owns Philips at the moment?

The answer is not as straightforward as it may seem. Companies are no strangers to licensing out divisions. For example, the brand Sennheiser is still owned by the Sennheiser family (third generation), but it licensed out its consumer products division to other firms. Philips, on the other hand, is publicly traded. Though headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the majority of Philips (Royal Philips, to be precise) is owned by retail investors; nearly 41%, to be exact. Institutional investors represent 40% of ownership. 

For consumers, this means that for most products (save for medical tech), you're just buying the Philips name, since the company technically doesn't make the products. For instance, one company has the licensing rights to sell domestic appliances under the name, while another does things like smart lights. It gets even more confusing with products like TVs, as different manufacturers have rights to slap the Philips badge on their products in different territories.

The easiest way to explain who owns Philips is by focusing on the institutions that hold substantial shares. Exor N.V. holds approximately 19%, followed by Causeway Capital Management LLC from the USA with 3%. Surprisingly, BlackRock Fund Advisors also holds a little over 2%. 

As for Philips-branded products, Royal Philips currently produces healthcare equipment and personal healthcare items, including toothbrushes and electric shavers. Other than that? Philips mostly licenses out their name to various companies. For example, global investment firm Hillhouse Capital bought Philips's entire domestic appliances business (and snagged the licensing rights for 15 years), renamed the business Versuni, and produces its items in factories around the world. On the other hand, Signify became a spin-off of the Philips Lighting division. So, if you purchase Philips Hue smart lights, you're buying something from an independent manufacturer that has the rights to use the name.

TVs are the most confusing part of the Philips puzzle. Got a TV branded with the iconic Dutch logo in the USA? In that case, your TV was made by Skyworth, which has licensing rights for North America. Someone over the pond gets a Philips? TP Vision made theirs. It would seem that the iconic Philips brand is still held in high regard in the consumer tech world, as everyone wants it on their products as a sign of trust.