6 Companies Owned by Home Depot

The Home Depot Inc. (HD), a leading home improvement retailer, was founded in 1978 by Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, two avid do-it-yourselfers. Their vision was a superstore offering a variety of merchandise, low prices, and a highly trained staff who could walk customers through most types of home repair and improvement.

The first two Home Depot stores were opened in 1979 in Atlanta. The company went public in 1981 and has since grown into the world’s leading home improvement retailer, with nearly 2,300 stores throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. It also offers more than 1 million products online.

Home Depot, primarily still a brick-and-mortar retailer, has avoided major sales losses to e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) for one major reason: Many of Home Depot’s products are large, bulky items that are hard to send via express mail. Home Depot, which gets major sales from individual consumers and professional contractors, posted net earnings of $12.9 billion on $132.1 billion of net sales during its 2020 fiscal year (FY), which ended Jan. 31, 2021. The company has a market capitalization of $341.3 billion as of July 9, 2021.

Throughout its history, Home Depot has focused on catering to professional contractors and do-it-yourself consumers with customized service. That service includes a knowledgeable staff who can guide customers on how to do everything from operating a power tool, to changing a valve, to laying tile. Home Depot’s acquisitions reflect that approach. The company has focused on deals that strengthen its core business: by adding both more product offerings and highly trained experts in specific home improvement niches. Sales to professional builders and contractors have become an increasingly important part of its business. While Home Depot’s core business is brick-and-mortar stores, it also has expanded by purchasing online companies with a track record of strong customer focus.

Below, we look at six of Home Depot’s key acquisitions.

Compact Power Equipment Inc.

• Type of business: Equipment rental and maintenance services
• Acquisition price: $265 million
• Acquisition date: July 6, 2017 (announced date)

Compact Power Equipment, founded by entrepreneur Roger Braswell, provides equipment rental services, including rentals of cranes, excavators, tractors, and trenchers. Compact Power Equipment first formed a long-term commercial partnership with Home Depot in 2009 that began rentals at 115 Home Depots in six states.

In 2017, Home Depot acquired the company, which then was providing equipment rentals at more than 1,000 Home Depot stores throughout the United States and Canada. The acquisition strengthens Home Depot’s offerings and services to professional business customers.

The Company Store

• Type of business: Online retailer of textiles and home décor products
• Acquisition price: Terms of the deal undisclosed
• Acquisition date: Dec. 19, 2017

The Company Store, founded in 1911, sells sheets, quilts, bath towels, select clothing, and other home décor products online. Home Depot acquired The Company Store, excluding its five retail locations, in 2017 from Hanover Direct.

In addition to immediately bolstering Home Depot’s online footprint, the deal also enabled the company to expand into broader areas of the online décor business by providing strong product development and sourcing capabilities.

Interline Brands Inc.

• Type of business: Distributor and direct marketer of building products
• Acquisition price: $1.6 billion
• Acquisition date: Aug. 24, 2015

Interline Brands was founded in 1978 under the name Wilmar Industries Inc. The company provides maintenance, repair, and operations products to professional contractors, facilities maintenance professionals, hardware stores, and other customers throughout the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico.

Home Depot acquired Interline Brands in 2015 for just over $1.6 billion. The acquisition expanded Home Depot’s sales and services primarily to professional contractors and maintenance repair businesses by adding an experienced account sales force, fulfillment capabilities, and an extensive distribution network.

Blinds.com

• Type of business: Online window coverings retailer
• Acquisition price: Terms of the deal undisclosed
• Acquisition date: Jan. 23, 2014

Blinds.com traces its roots to a website named NoBrainerBlinds.com, which first began selling blinds and shades in June 1996. The company specializes in selling window coverings online, which includes live chat and face2face video consultation services.

Home Depot acquired Blinds.com in 2014, when the online window coverings market was growing rapidly. The acquisition has bolstered Home Depot’s online presence.

Redbeacon

• Type of business: Online home improvement services
• Acquisition price: Terms of the deal undisclosed
• Acquisition date: Jan. 20, 2012 (announced date)

Redbeacon, which won the 2009 TechCrunch 50 award, was founded in 2008 by former Google employees Aaron Lee, Ethan Anderson, and Yaron Binur. The company provides an online search directory of local business listings with ratings and reviews of screened and approved home contractors. Customers using the site can get multiple price quotes and schedule appointments with local business professionals.

In 2012, Home Depot acquired Redbeacon, which the parent now calls Pro Referral. The acquisition is another example of how Home Depot has expanded and strengthened its suite of online services.

HD Supply

• Type of business: Wholesale distributor of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products
• Acquisition price: Approximately $8 billion
• Acquisition date: Dec. 24, 2020

HD Supply Holdings Inc. was founded in 1974 as Maintenance Warehouse. The Home Depot originally acquired Maintenance Warehouse in 1997 and later renamed it Home Depot Supply, and then HD Supply. In 2007, Home Depot sold HD Supply to a group of private equity firms.

By the time Home Depot reacquired HD Supply in late 2020, the company had grown to encompass 44 distribution centers across the United States and Canada and had become a top distributor of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products. The acquisition bolsters Home Depot’s MRO presence in the hospitality and multifamily end markets. The deal also will help Home Depot to increase business with larger contractors and other professional customers, who tend to get business from specialty suppliers.

Home Depot Diversity & Inclusiveness Transparency

As part of our effort to improve the awareness of the importance of diversity in companies, we have highlighted the transparency of Home Depot’s commitment to diversity, inclusiveness, and social responsibility. The chart below illustrates how Home Depot reports the diversity of its management and workforce. This shows if Home Depot discloses data about the diversity of its board of directors, C-Suite, general management, and employees overall across a variety of markers. We have indicated that transparency with a ✔.