Who Owns Harley Davidson? Where Are Harleys Made?

The Harley-Davidson corporation is one of the most recognized names in the motorcycling world. This is partly due to it being around for so long; meaning that there was ample time for them to build up their reputation and brand. Understanding where Harley Davidson came from and who owns them can be something that a lot of people struggle with answering. So, who does own Harley Davidson? If you are interested in purchasing or already have a Harley Davidson bike, knowing who owns the company can be very important – especially if you’re anything like me!

The Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company first started back in 1903 and it grew up pretty fast. A group of four guys founded it all together, namely – Walter Davidson, Arthur Davidson, William Davis (not to be confused with Wiliam David), and William Harley himself. At present time, however, the ownership structure has changed greatly from what we knew back when we first learned about them.

Nowadays they are a publicly-traded company because instead of belonging to just one organization – there are now many shareholders who buy stocks in said business. But never mind that! You can always find out everything you need right here in this very article – which should make things easier for you if ever feel too curious again after reading!

Thanks to this, Harley-Davidson can be considered one of the most iconic American companies that cannot be missed. For those who are unfamiliar, the origin story of this company begins when William S. Harley and his good friend Arthur Davidson began working on an electric bike in 1901.

Their ultimate creation had some serious flaws but it nevertheless served as a valuable learning experience – thus paving the way for Williams’ four friends plus two of Davidson’s brothers to start a true motorcycle manufacturer. By 1920, Harley-Davidson became the largest company of its kind in all the land before taking a horrible blow like every other competitor during the Great Depression years.

Major Damage but Survival

To gather an estimate of the extent of this problem, Harley-Davidson sold 21,000 units in 1929; but only 3,703 units in 1933. The numbers were dismal, but Harley-Davison survived the Great Depression. This wasn’t unique among motorcycle makers; there were only two other American firms to make it through those rough years. Even then, we couldn’t quite see its potential until after WWII when they had the time and resources to come back stronger than before.

In the 70s things started going downhill again – although they never actually failed or went out of business. All because they hung on tight enough to ride out a hard couple decades while they rebuilt themselves (mostly due to their strong brand). It didn’t take long for them to start making moves outside of motorcycles: clothes, furniture and even toys – what else would you expect from one of America’s oldest brands?

Who Are The Biggest Shareholders In Harley Davidson?

As discussed, Harley-Davidson is a publicly traded company. As of writing this article, its share prices are worth $31 per share. With a market cap totaling 4.62 billion dollars, there’s no denying the power it commands in the world economy right now. Unlike most other companies and their investors who own stock in Harley-Davidson, just five corporations control most of its shares – according to CNN Money. So let’s take a look at them shall we?

• The Vanguard Group, Inc: Owns 8.89%
• H Partners Management LLC: Owns 8.55%
• BlackRock Fund Advisors: Owns 7.83%
• Boston Partners Global Investors: Owns 6.78%
• Beutel, Goodman & Co. Ltd.: Owns 4.89%

When we account for all of the stakeholders and shareholders, it becomes obvious that they don’t actually control a majority stake in Harley-Davidson. Yes, there are many people who own part of this motorcycle manufacturing company – but they collectively own less than 40%.

Who Owns Harley-Davidson in the Present Time?

Under these conditions, there is no doubt that people will wonder about the ownership of Harley-Davidson; especially when it changes hands so often. Thankfully though, this is an easy question with an answer so plain you can see right through it. After all, at present time Harley-Davidson is a publicly traded company.

In essence, public companies are businesses that possess a legal entity independent from their owners whose identity was defined by them owning stocks in said company. Publicly traded corporations have stock shares that are owned by individuals and companies outside of the company – created thanks to brokerships trading said shares on both local and international markets as well as over-the-counter trades too.

Does Harley-Davidson Have Any Subsidiaries?

There will be more complications from now on because there are Harley-Davidson subsidiaries. However, these are much easier to understand since most of them deal with Harley-Davidsons in other countries rather than the US.

Harley Davidson Inc has these subsidiaries:

• Harley-Davidson EMEA
• Harley-Davidson Brazil
• Harley-Davidson India
• Harley-Davidson Asia

These subsidiaries can be seen as more of a headquarters than anything else. Overseas, they are in charge of the corporate side of the brand. If you live in India, Brazil, Africa or Asia and want to open up a Harley-Davidson dealership for example – then all you have to do is speak to one of these affiliated companies about it. You would still need to handle things inside your dealership but there is no doubt that this company will take care of all other aspects such as branding, marketing etcetera when it comes down to running a big corporation like this.

There are Multiple Owners

In order to understand just how much Harley Davidson has influenced this world, one needs only look at who their shareholders are. After all, it is the people who stand behind Harley Davidson – they deserve recognition too! There are many shareholders, but there are only a few groups with the biggest percentage of shares available. These major investors include Boston Partners Global Investors, Vanguard Group Inc.,

BlackRock Fund Advisors LP (BLK), H Partners Management L P (HPM), and Beutel Goodman & Co., Inc. Though there may be discrepancies among them about what company procedures should look like – one thing these major investors do agree on is that Beutel Goodman & Co., Inc. does not have nearly as much power in decision making as any of the other four aforementioned firms.

Every single one of these entities have invested hundreds of millions worth of money into Harley-Davidson Company, which makes sense because the company has a staggering market cap value at just over $6 Billion.

• What Are Some of the Other Entities that Harley-Davidson Has Been Owned By?
• As mentioned before, Harley-Davidson has experienced more than one ownership change throughout its long history.
• In the beginning, Harley-Davidson was owned by its founders before eventually being bought out by each family member in succession. In 1965, Harley-Davidson became public for all to own.

However, this company soon started to struggle and was looking for either a merger or a buy-out. In 1969 they merged with AMF. It may not be well known what the name of this company is now because people were unfamiliar when the merge happened.

It’s no wonder that AMF met its own hardships in the late 70s and early 80s. This was due to age-old issues, such as quality control problems, as well as diversifying their product line which made running this company difficult to manage. As such, they sold off all of their assets before going out of business in 1985. But luckily for Harley Davidson Motorcycle Company, this move allowed them to stay afloat during these tough times!

Around the end of the seventies, their management team began eyeing an exit strategy – leading them to make a successful offer to buy back their company; the deal went through at the start of 1981. People may hear different rumors about Harley Davidson being purchased by other companies like Kawasaki or BMW; however, you should know that those are just unfounded tales told by someone who found humor in making up fictitious stories.

Further Considerations

Currently, Harley-Davidson is a publicly traded company. But what many don’t know is that it is possible for a publicly traded company to become privately held through less regulated means than the reverse. Essentially, when a private group approaches shareholders with an offer to buy their stock at a specific price per share – if they are able to reach a majority agreement between themselves then the procedure goes through and the public company becomes privately owned due to those shares being bought and sold. Such procedures can be beneficial for investors because interested parties often tend to pay above market value for these stocks in order to convince others to sell theirs.

It is no secret that when a private group buys out a public company, they have to shell out significant sums of cash. But there are many complexities involved with such transactions – which means they’re far less likely than the reverse situation (a public company turning private). With all these factors taken into consideration, it becomes hard to estimate whether Harley-Davidson will eventually become privately owned or not; although it is certainly plausible.

Going Strong in 2022

This year, there were 8 motorcycles released by Harley Davidson. There are the Street Glide ST, Road Glide ST, Low Ride S, Low Rider ST, and four bikes in Harley’s Custom Vehicle Operations – all of which contain many different excellent features including heated seats and handles for those cold winter months, electronic braking systems to keep you safe while riding through any terrain no matter how rough it might be; side-to-side traction control to ensure you can make tight turns without skidding out or crashing;

Bluetooth connectivity for a hands-free experience so you can ride without having to worry about anything else besides where you want to go next. To top it off (pun intended), the vehicles also come equipped with an infotainment system that includes a color touch screen and voice command capability which opens up possibilities never before seen with motorcycles!

FAQs About Who Owns Harley Davidson

Conclusion

The truth is that Harley-Davidson, an iconic motorcycle manufacturer in America, survived the rough patches during hard times – including the 1990s and 2000s – to come back stronger than ever. Much like every success story though, every stage came with difficulties. One such difficulty was a misconception as they continuously portrayed themselves as American icon.

Many people who have purchased one of their motorcycles found that it wasn’t even close to true due to its huge number of stockholders globally. So what does this mean? To summarize: No matter how hard or easy your life may seem at this very moment, you should never give up because if everyone else before us couldn’t do it then neither could we!

Harley-Davidson, a legend in the motorcycle industry, is one of the most iconic brands out there. With a long history of innovation and construction that puts them on top above any other company – it comes as no surprise why they’re so well-loved by everyone. They’ve had their fair share of ups and downs over time, but they manage to always come back harder than ever before; never failing the people who are passionate about riding bikes around this great country.