Who owns Kohl's?

In 1972, the British American Tobacco Company's U.S. retail division, Batus Inc., bought a controlling interest in Kohl's Corporation. The Kohl family, led by Allen Kohl and Herb Kohl, continued to manage the company. Herb Kohl left the management in 1979.

The grocery stores were sold to AP in 1983, operating under the name Kohl's Food Store and later Kohl's Food Emporium. In February 2003, AP put Kohl's Food Stores up for sale as part of an effort to reduce debt. That same year, AP closed all Kohl's Food Stores locations, and the Kohl family left the remaining management.

Kohl's was then sold to The Copps Corp., a subsidiary of Roundy's Inc. of Pewaukee. As the company continued to expand, so did its number of shareholders and investors. As of 2022, several companies were interested in buying the majority of the shares in Kohl's, including Hudson's Bay Company and Sycamore Partners, JCPenney, and Simon Property Group.

Currently, Kohl's shareholders are 43.7% of all mutual fund holders such as Vanguard and only 4.5% of individual stockholders. Our research shows that The Vanguard Group, Inc. is the largest shareholder with 10% of shares outstanding. Meanwhile, the second and third largest shareholders hold 9.9% and 5.3% of the shares outstanding, respectively.