The story
Founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, in New Britain.1
The Stanley Works came to existence as a direct result of the 1920 merger of Stanley's Bolt Manufactory, founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, and the Stanley Rule and Level Company, founded by Frederick's cousin, Henry Stanley, in 1857. DeWalt was acquired in 1960, and sold to Black & Decker.
In March 12, 2010 Black & Decker merged with Stanley Works to become Stanley Black & Decker. It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of that company.
During World War II, Stanley Works received the Army-Navy "E" Award for excellence in war production.
In May 2002, the company considered moving its corporate headquarters to Bermuda, but public and governmental outcry forced management to reconsider the move. By August 2002, the company had decided to maintain its incorporation in the United States.
John F. Lundgren was elected as chairman and chief executive officer in 2004, replacing John Trani, a former protégé of Jack Welch at General Electric.
The Hardware & Home Improvement Group, including the Kwikset, Weiser, Baldwin, National Hardware, Stanley, FANAL, Pfister and EZSET brands, was acquired by Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. on December 17, 2012.
In July 2016, CEO John F. Lundgren stepped down, with President and COO James M. Loree taking over as CEO.
In July 2022, CEO James M. Loree stepped down, with President and CFO Donald Allan, Jr taking over as CEO. Three years later, Allan, Jr was succeeded by Christopher Nelson as CEO.
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Acquisitions
1906-7: To strengthen its position in Canada, a tool plant was opened in Roxton Pond, Quebec. The company was officially incorporated as the Stanley Tool Company of Canada, Ltd. on February 7, 1907. The Roxton Pond plant continued operations until 1984.
1937: Stanley Works entered the United Kingdom market with the acquisition of J.A. Chapman of Sheffield, England.
1946: Stanley Works acquired North Brothers Manufacturing Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1963: Stanley started operations in Australia as Stanley-Titan when it bought a 50% share of Titan, a subsidiary of BHP.
1966: Stanley Works acquired Vidmar Cabinets in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
1970: Stanley-Titan acquired Turner Tools, based in Melbourne, Australia.
1980: Stanley Works acquired Mac Tools.
1984: Stanley Works purchased Proto from Ingersoll Rand and it becomes Stanley Proto.
1986: Stanley Works acquired Bostitch from Textron.
1990: Stanley Works acquired Goldblatt and ZAG Industries.
1990: Acquired Sidchrome Tool Co., headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Closed plant in 1996 and started to move all tool manufacturing to Taiwan, sourcing various items from Proto in the USA (marked as Proto on items) due to supply of left-over Australian-made tools being sold out until all manufacturing was fully established in Taiwan.
1992: Stanley Works purchased the Chatsworth, California-based Monarch Mirror Door Co. Inc., an American manufacturer of sliding and folding mirror-doors.
2002: In October, Stanley Works acquired Best Access Systems of Indianapolis, Indiana, for $310 million. The acquisition also prompted the creation of a new Access Controls Group for Stanley. Further additions to this new working group included Blick.
2004: Stanley Works acquired Blick of Swindon, England, a UK integrator of security, communication, and time-management services, and CST Berger.
2004: In January, Stanley announced plans to acquire Frisco Bay Industries Ltd., a Canadian provider of security integration services, for $45.3 million. In December, the acquisition of ISR Solutions, Inc., headquartered in Washington, D.C., was announced. ISR Solutions provides the U.S. federal government and commercial customers with access security system services.
2005: In January, the acquisition of Security Group was announced. Security Group was composed of two primary operating companies: Sargent & Greenleaf, a manufacturer of locks; and Safemasters, a North American provider of security installation, maintenance and repair services. An additional acquisition of Precision Hardware was made in 2005. In the same year, Stanley Works also acquired Facom.
2006: Stanley furthered its corporate assets in the security market by acquiring HSM Electronic Protection Systems after it had been spun off from Honeywell in compliance with pre-emptive Securities and Exchange Commission antitrust rulings. In the meantime, the company obtained security contracts as the primary contractor to secure three NASA spaceflight centers.
2007: Late in the year, Stanley acquired OSI Security of Chula Vista, California, a provider of battery-operated wireless lock technology and supplies to government, education, and healthcare industries.
2008: Stanley acquired Beach Toolbox Industries, headquartered in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada, then closed the plant.
2008: In June, Stanley announced the acquisition of Sonitrol, which provides security systems that use audio listening devices as the primary means of intrusion detection. Stanley also acquired Xmark Corporation, which provides radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions in healthcare environments. As of 2008, many of the Stanley Security Services divisions were being integrated under the HSM brand.
2009: On November 2, Stanley announced a merger with Black & Decker. The merger was completed on March 12, 2010.
2010: In July, the company announced the acquisition of CRC-Evans Pipeline International. CRC-Evans provides total project support for pipeline construction contractors with automatic welding and other pipeline construction specific equipment and personnel.
2011: On September 9, the acquisition of Niscayah was complete.
2012: On January 1, the acquisition of Lista North America from LISTA, headquartered in Holliston, Massachusetts, was completed.
2012: On June 1, the acquisition of Powers Fasteners, headquartered in Brewster, New York, was completed.
2012: On June 5, the acquisition of AeroScout, headquartered in Redwood City, California, was completed.
2016: Stanley Black & Decker announced in October that it acquired the Irwin, Lenox, and Hilmor tool brands for $1.95 billion from Newell Brands.
2017: On January 5, news reports indicated that it would acquire the Craftsman brand from KCD, LLC (a Sears Holdings subsidiary). Subsequent reports by Bloomberg indicated that the company would pay $525 million initially, an additional $250 million after three years, as well as annual payments on new Craftsman sales for 15 years.
2018: On September 12, Stanley Black & Decker announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 20 percent stake in MTD Products Inc, a privately held global manufacturer of outdoor power equipment, for $234 million in cash. Under the terms of the agreement, Stanley Black & Decker has the option to acquire the remaining 80 percent of MTD beginning on July 1, 2021.
2018: On August 7, Stanley Black & Decker announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire International Equipment Solutions Attachments Group (IES Attachments) for $690 million in cash.
2020: In Q1 2020, Stanley Black & Decker agreed to acquire Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, LLC (CAM) for up to $1.5 billion. CAM provides a fastener and component platform which would help the company to grow in aerospace and defense. The business was eventually divested in 2025 and sold to Howmet Aerospace for $1.8 billion.
2021: On August 17, 2021, Stanley Black & Decker announced that it has agreed to acquire the remaining 80% ownership stake in MTD Holdings Inc.
2021: On September 13, 2021, Stanley Black & Decker announced that it would be acquiring Excel Industries; who designs and manufactures commercial and residential turf-care equipment under the Hustler Turf Equipment and BigDog Mower Co. brands. The sale was completed November 12 of the same year.
2021: On December 8, 2021, Securitas AB announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Stanley Black & Decker's electronic security business unit for $3.2 billion
2022: In Q3 2022, Stanley Black & Decker announced layoffs of over 1,000 corporate employees as part of cost-saving measures in response to plummeting stock price
From Wikipedia’s article on Stanley Black & Decker, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.9