GoKawiilIn 2005, a Hong Kong conglomerate bought Milwaukee for $626 million and poured money into it. In 2017, an American conglomerate bought Craftsman for $900 million and built a factory that couldn't stamp its own name on a socket.
Same playbook. Opposite results. This is the story of what happened to every tool brand on the shelf.
The two conglomerates
Techtronic Industries (TTI) is a Hong Kong company founded in 1985. They own Milwaukee, Ryobi, and manufacture Ridgid power tools under license from Emerson Electric. They bought Milwaukee from Atlas Copco in 2005 for about $626 million.
At the time, Milwaukee was a respected but mid-tier brand known mostly for Sawzalls and hole hawgs. TTI also owns the floor care brands Hoover, Dirt Devil, and Oreck, though those haven't gotten the same love.
Stanley Black & Decker (SBD) is the result of Stanley Works merging with Black & Decker in 2010. That merger created a company that already owned DeWalt, and from there they went on a tear. Craftsman from Sears for $900 million. Irwin and Lenox from Newell Brands for $1.95 billion. They absorbed Porter-Cable, Bostitch, MAC Tools, Proto Industrial, and Vidmar.
Over $6 billion in acquisitions since 2002. At one point they owned so many brands in the same category that their own products were cannibalizing each other on the same store shelves.
Both companies bought up everything. What they did next is where the story splits.
TTI: Buy it, invest in it, leave it alone
TTI bought Milwaukee and basically let it run itself. Kept the R&D operation in Brookfield, WI. Kept the engineering team intact. Dumped $206 million into R&D in a single year. More than 4.4% of total sales going straight back into product development, every year.
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