Church & Dwight Co., Inc. is an American consumer goods company focusing on personal care, household products, and specialty products. The company was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in

Ewing, New Jersey Ewing Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township falls within the Trenton- Princeton metropolitan statistical area (which includes all of Mercer County), which is part of the New York combined sta ...

. It is the parent company of well-known brands such as

Arm & Hammer Arm & Hammer is a brand of baking soda-based consumer products marketed by Church & Dwight, a major American manufacturer of household products. The logo of the brand depicts the ancient symbol of a muscular arm holding a hammer inside a red ci ...

Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * '' Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 18 ...

OxiClean OxiClean is an American brand of household cleaners, including OxiClean Versatile Stain Remover, which is a laundry additive, spot stain remover, and household cleaner marketed by Church & Dwight. It was formerly owned by Orange Glo Internation ...

, and First Response. In 2022, Church & Dwight reported annual revenue of $5.4 billion. The company's products and services include a wide range of consumer goods, including

laundry detergent Laundry detergent is a type of detergent (cleaning agent) used for cleaning dirty laundry (clothes). Laundry detergent is manufactured in powder (washing powder) and liquid form. While powdered and liquid detergents hold roughly equal share of ...

air fresheners Air fresheners are products designed to reduce unwanted odors in indoor spaces, to introduce pleasant fragrances, or both. They typically emit fragrance to mask odors but may use other methods of action such as absorbing, bonding to, or chemically ...

baking soda Sodium bicarbonate (IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt (chemistry), salt compose ...

condoms A condom is a sheath-shaped barrier device used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy or a sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are both external condoms, also called male condoms, and internal (female) ...

pregnancy tests A pregnancy test is used to determine whether a person is pregnant or not. The two primary methods are testing for the pregnancy hormone (human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG)) in blood or urine using a pregnancy test kit, and scanning with ultras ...

, and

oral hygiene Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's oral cavity clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and adopting good hygiene habits. It is important that oral hygiene be carr ...

products.

History

The company was founded in 1847 to unify two companies created by John Dwight of

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

and his brother-in-law,

Austin Church Austin Church (January 8, 1799 – August 7, 1879) was an American medical doctor and a pioneer of bicarbonate of soda manufacturing. He was a co-founder of the company that first developed the product in America from chemical compound salts. H ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. Their partnership had begun in 1846 with the two founders selling

sodium bicarbonate Sodium bicarbonate ( IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cat ...

(also known as baking soda) that they refined in Dwight's kitchen. The Arm & Hammer name and logo, which dates back to the 1860s, is often incorrectly claimed to have originated with tycoon

Armand Hammer Armand Hammer (May 21, 1898 – December 10, 1990) was an American businessman and philanthropist. The son of a Russian Empire-born communist activist, Hammer trained as a physician before beginning his career in trade with the newly estab ...

. Hammer was so often asked about the Church & Dwight brand that he attempted to buy the company. While this attempt was unsuccessful, Hammer's

Occidental Petroleum Occidental Petroleum Corporation (often abbreviated Oxy in reference to its ticker symbol and logo) is an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration in the United States and the Middle East as well as petrochemical manufacturing in the ...

in 1986 acquired enough stock for him to join the Church & Dwight board of directors until he died in 1990. In 1970, the Arm & Hammer brand introduced the market's first nationally distributed, phosphate-free detergent: Arm & Hammer Powder Laundry Detergent.

2000s

In 2001, Church & Dwight acquired the consumer product line of

Carter-Wallace Carter-Wallace was a personal care company headquartered in New York City. The company was formed by the merger of Carter Products and Wallace Laboratories. The company had a research facility in Cranbury, New Jersey. History The company was fo ...

, and

MedPointe Meda AB is a specialty pharmaceutical company, headquartered in Solna, Sweden. Meda imports and markets pharmaceuticals, nutritional, and health-care products, and offers services including clinical research, registration, and logistics. At the ...

bought the diagnostics and drug businesses. The same year, Church & Dwight expanded its business into laundry detergent products by acquiring small detergent company USA Detergents, the original owner of Xtra detergent. In 2003, Church & Dwight bought the U.S. and Canadian rights to

Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...

's oral health business, which includes

Pepsodent Pepsodent is an American brand of toothpaste with the minty flavor that is derived from sassafras. The brand was purchased by Unilever in 1942 and is still owned by the company outside of the United States and Canada. In 2003, Unilever sold the ...

Mentadent Mentadent is a brand name for a line of dental products manufactured by Unilever for its home and international markets excluding the United States and Canada where the company sold its rights to the brand to Church & Dwight Company in 2003. In 2 ...

Close-Up A close-up or closeup in filmmaking, television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, s ...

, and

Aim AIM or Aim may refer to: Computing * AIM alliance, an Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance * AIM (software), AOL Instant Messenger * Fortyfive, a Japanese software development company previously known as AIM Military * Abrams Integrated Management, an ...

. Unilever still owns the brands outside of North America. In 2006, Church & Dwight expanded its household brand portfolio with the acquisition of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

-based

Orange Glo International Church & Dwight Co., Inc. is an American consumer goods company focusing on personal care, household products, and specialty products. The company was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Ewing, New Jersey. It is the parent company of well-kno ...

, which included such brands as

in the laundry pre-wash additive category, Kaboom bathroom cleaners, and Orange Glo household cleaning products. In 2008, Church & Dwight acquired the

Orajel Benzocaine, sold under the brand name Orajel amongst others, is a local anesthetic, belonging to the amino ester drug class, commonly used as a topical painkiller or in cough drops. It is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter anesthet ...

business from Del Labs, including pain relievers for toothache, mouth sore, teething, and non-fluoride toothpaste.

2010s

Church & Dwight was ranked 723 in the

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

listing of companies in 2010. The same year, Church & Dwight acquired Simply Saline and Feline Pine. In 2016, Church & Dwight acquired Spencer Forrest, Inc., the maker of Toppik hair care products. In 2017,

MidOcean Partners MidOcean Partners is a New York City , New York based alternative asset management firm that specializes in mid-sized private equity and alternative leveraged investments. The firm, founded in February 2003, is based in Midtown Manhattan. MidOc ...

agreed to sell Water Pik to Church & Dwight for $1 billion. At the time of the sale announcement, it was reported that Water Pik had "$265 million of revenue in the fiscal year ended June 30, about 70% of which came from its water flosser products".

2020s

In December 2021, the company acquired TheraBreath for a reported amount of $580 million. In September 2022, the company acquired Hero Cosmetics for a reported amount of $630 million.

Notable brands

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Church And Dwight 1896 establishments in New Jersey American companies established in 1896 Chemical companies of the United States Companies based in Mercer County, New Jersey Companies in the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Ewing Township, New Jersey Manufacturing companies based in New Jersey Manufacturing companies established in 1896

History

2000s

2010s

2020s

Notable brands

See also

References

Further reading

External links