Stanley Black & Decker acquired a 20% stake in MTD back in 2019, with the option to purchase the remaining 80% of the company starting in July, 2021. It’s now August 2021, and Stanley Black & Decker has announced that they will indeed be purchasing the remainder of MTD for $1.6 billion.
Dewalt discontinued their 40V Max line of cordless outdoor power tools in mid-2019, but have since expanded their FlexVolt line of cordless OPE offerings.
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In addition to Dewalt’s 20V Max and FlexVolt cordless offerings, Stanley Black & Decker also has a growing catalog of lawn & garden tools under their Craftsman brand.
According to their announcement to investors, MTD earned $2.5 billion in revenue in the last 12 months.
MTD designs, manufacturers, and distributes a wide range of outdoor power equipment products, such as:
- Lawn tractors
- Zero turn mowers
- Walk behind mowers
- Snow blowers
- Residential robotic mowers
- Handheld outdoor power equipment
Additionally, all of MTD’s tool brands are also joining Stanley Black & Decker’s portfolio. This includes Cub Cadet, Troy-Bilt, Robomow, Wolf-Garten, and Rover.
Stanley Black & Decker says they are welcoming MTD’s 7,500 employees to their family.
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The two companies and their brands are already working on a “multi-year roadmap,” with “a compelling pathway to introduce new and innovative products for professional and residential outdoor equipment customers.”
In a Q&A, Stanley Black & Decker was asked if both companies will retain their individual brands, to which they answered with a vague non-answer about how they will capitalize on their strong brands and collective technology investments.
I don’t think Stanley Black & Decker would replace or dissolve any of MTD’s brands, but there is a very strong chance we’ll see some cross-over, such as in regard to cordless battery-powered equipment.
There will very likely be a transition period, similar to when Stanley Works and Black & Decker merged several years ago.
This acquisition holds a lot of potential for all of the brands involved, and it will be interesting to see how Stanley Black & Decker and MTD leverage each others’ brands and know-how.
Hon Cho
MTD has been building Dewalt’s cordless mowers. I was looking at one in home depot and noticed how similar the DeWalt mower deck was to a nearby Troy-Bilt model. Turns out the decks were identical. Given the mediocre quality of MTD mowers, that doesn’t give me much confidence in quality of a DeWalt mower. Certainly usable but not necessarily worth a premium price.
Jared S
I’m betting Troy-Bilt dies off with Craftsman already having taken its place in Lowe’s. The rest will stick around, at least in the US.
Toolfreak
They’ll probably just use the brand for places that don’t sell Craftsman.
OldDominionDIYer
Sometimes companies just get too big and 99 percent of the time when they do they eventually forget the consumer/customer and they begin selling off in a never ending cycle. I’m not hoping this happens but how much bigger can SB&D get and still be effective.
Steve L
Typical reason for an acquisition is higher profits once combined. And higher profits are usually expected to come from lower costs.
Shared R&D for sure can save some money but the savings are small. I expect some brands to bite the dust – remove duplicate products while retaining sales, . Remains to be seen if sales remain the same while the “streamlining” is under way.
MFC
Maybe this will help their terrible cordless mowers improve? Eventually all that R&D has to pay off.
philip s john
I have used both movers by dewalt. Some people expect to much from first gen. Second gen is amazing good.
Terrible will be Milwaukee mower at 18v. Just like most HO red tools.
Rog
I bought a new Troy-Bilt riding mower a couple years and have been unimpressed with the build quality. Makes perfect sense to pair them with SBD
Chris
You bought a Troy Bilt, their cheap low cost stuff… Cub Cadet is where the quality is
MM
Not anymore, sadly.
My first boss had a 1970’s vintage Cub Cadet lawn tractor. It had most of the features of a real tractor. The transmission and axle housings were heavy cast iron. It had a 3-point hitch with PTO, and even a front PTO which could be used for a snowblower and a rotary broom attachment. I’ve seen the current Cub Cadet models at the local tractor supply. I’m not sure where they are made now but they appear little different than the average import brand. Everything is thin sheet metal, no castings. No PTO, no 3-point hitch. You don’t even get a proper trailer hitch. I’m not even sure I’d call them a mid-range model anymore.
Jreiss
Need to go to a dealer, not a big box store or tractor supply. They have a entry level mower, just like the the John Deere they sell. Base model are for price and not made for working lawn person. Cut the lawn and done.
MM
I can see that they have better models than the Big-Box stores now, that’s a relief.
But they still don’t seem to be anywhere near what they once were. I looked up the “Top of the Line” XT3 series that Nathan mentioned below in this topic. It was nice to see a shaft drive from the engine to the transmission and an iron transmission housing but otherwise…disappointing. Stamped deck. Still no PTO, no 3-point hitch, and while it more solidly built than the big-box lines are it’s still not what they used to be. An old cub cadet was a literal tractor, albeit a small one. Now they’re just another riding mower.
Chris
As another poster noted, the models available through the big boxes are built to a big box price point, the dealer grade equipment is GENERALLY nicer and better built. That said, we’re a long way away from the IH-era Cub Cadet of the 70s/early 80s.
I worked for several years in Engineering IT at MTD after growing up in a family that ran an OPE dealership selling Deere, Simplicity, Jacobsen, Cub, etc. over many many years. MTD has always tried really hard with Cub Cadet and I think they have done a lot of good work with the brand, particularly in recent years, but the build execution often doesn’t seem to hold up to the designs. The Series 2000 direct shaft drive lawn tractors were brand new when I was there, great design but never held up or had the quality to match the design.
Hoping that SBD might continue to reinvigorate the brands, but seeing that even the mighty Deere builds down to cheap big box price points these days I’m afraid the quality equipment of the past may stay there.
MM
I moved onto a rural property 4 years ago. My immediate neighbor has about 3 acres and uses a Deere commercial ZTR to maintain it (his wife works at the Deere dealership). I see him doing serious tinkering on it at least twice a month. One time I got a pretty good look at it when he asked for my help looking for an anti-scalp roller which fell off while he was mowing. I was disappointed to see that the fabrication quality of the steel was not what I would have expected for a mower costing most of 5 figures.
Rog
I wasn’t aware of that when I bought it. Would have passed in hindsight, especially since they’re paired up with SBD. Not much a fan of theirs
BD
I worked for Garden Way, the original Troy Bilt. The company also owned Bolens. We made great products. We had rabidly enthusiastic and loyal customers. Today the name is put on junk. An all too familiar tale.
Travis
Man, those old Bolens were beasts! Nothing would stop those things. Our neighbor had one and he could pull out just about anything with that machine.
David Brock
Still have one of the TB brush chippers, the new ones are thin sheet metal junk compared to the ones of 20 years ago.
Sears Guy
20 years ago? My Garden Tractors go back 50+ years. I have a ’67 Sears Suburban and a ’70 Sears Custom 10XL (Both made by Roper). They will out perform most tractors today
lee hopkins
have had mine for a few years, love the V2 design
Kenneth Stephens
Cub cadet is garbage too. Look at review for their zero turns. Also look at the dewalt zero turns and stand on mowers. Those are made by mtd and share tons of parts with cub cadet. Yet the quality suffers compared to other brands that are sold at the ~$10k range that they charge for the stand on. I don’t think mtd makes any good products anymore.
Sears Guy
CC & Troy Bilt Built by MTD are the same tractor with different colors and name badges
Eugenio
I’ve been seeing electric Cub Cadet tractors and zero turn mowers at HD. They seemingly came out of nowhere since I hadn’t seen anything on them here. 😀
fred
In my neck of the woods – John Deere, Case, Snapper and Toro once seemed to be the most popular brands among homeowners. More recently I’m seeing a lot of Kubotas and Deeres – but my landscapers come with a Titan (Toro) or a Bobcat – depending upon which crew shows up.
Chris
I suspect you’ll continue to see more and more Kubota – they seem to be one of the few not building down to price points and doing a good job supporting their dealer base. Deere has sold-out big time to the big boxes in recent years and has been making aggressive moves to consolidate the small dealers into larger multi-state companies that don’t pay attention to their customer base like they should.
Commercial landscapers float with the trends – it often comes down to price point from a different perspective in that business. A lot of the better, older names have struggled to survive in that market when there are a lot of guys who’ll buy the cheapest 48″ or 60″ that will last one season and rag it hard rather than buy something that with a little maintenance they can get many years out off.
It will be interesting to see how electric equipment works in that business, without much effective downtime during the day to charge between lawns. Almost need a large-scale swappable battery system to make it work.
Stuart
Tractors and zero turn mowers and the such tend to be outside my wheelhouse. I can start paying more attention, but there are loads of other resources for news (and hype), and there haven’t been too many reader requests.
fred
They are sort of out of mine too. I haven’t mowed my own lawns in years – and with the exception of a small Honda mower that I keep for the occasional trimming job – I don’t have much experience with buying larger landscaping machinery. We used to have a large property where the local contractor would come in with a Gravely tractor to mow what would better be described as a field rather than a lawn . In that locale – I saw mostly mid-sized machinery with cutters like Bush Hogs and sickle bars. All of that might be better suited to a much different audience that your’s and perhaps a blog called “FarmGuyd”
Chris
You know, if I was still involved in that industry, I might have to steal that idea 🙂 FarmGuyd has a nice ring to it…
Stuart
Perhaps, but there’s a very broad line between tools and equipment someone might research online and those someone will simply talk to a local dealer or rep about.
Brandon
I feel they’d be worth covering once in a while, Stuart, and would greatly appreciate your thoughts and coverage on them, especially the growing segment of battery powered riders. I am a dyed-in-the-wool Wheel Horse owner and will never change that unless electric garden tractors appear, but I am highly curious to how this acquisition of MTD will play out. I see the Craftsman line of MTD mowers staying where they are while some/many of the other brands may be regional or exclusive to hardware store chains as a quasi-in-house brand.
Nathan
MTD makes substandard mowers like Husqvarna too. Yes MTD makes the Husqvarna walk behind and riding mowers. and I believe in their MTD makes a number of Pro models too – but it’s not their brand portfolio as they make them for company X. Like I believe they actually make the Snapper products too – but it’s not their portfolio brand they do it for Brigs and Stratton.
If I recall they make the mowers for john deere that are sold at deere dealers as well as the cheap HD stuff. like the X300 line that uses imported diesel engines.
Anyway – Not surprised since the start of this in 2019. Also seeing more and more common parts in the SBD line up vs some others. Like Cub Cadet for over a year has marketed a cordless electric OPE line. string trimmer, hedge, etc – all powered by a 60V battery – which looks a lot like the Craftman V60 battery kit that used to be sold at Lowes. So same parts different body color.
Dewalt now makes Zero Turn Mowers? I think it’s a mistake to market their powertools brand in OPE when they have others now. Cub Cadet was already in those spaces but at least the colors are the same.
adding to the craftsman line for competition sale at Lowes make a bit of sense but again they already had the Husqvarna line made by MTD in the store. Now I saw that in an assumption MTD made those trimmers and other bits too – as they did the push mowers and the riders sold there. Not to be confused with the Husqvarna front deck mower sold at some Husqvarna dealers – which if I recall is imported from Spain or something.
meh. again if it increases availability and competition in the market I’m mostly for it but i really think the dewalt name on zero turn riders and any other OPE makes little sense. Hell I’d also have been fine if they did like they did with MAC tools.
Cub Cadet OPE powered by Dewalt. I could get behind that. Or robomow or Ariens, or whatever. you know to direct compete with Ryobi/Milwaukee/etc.
Kent
Husqvarna makes there own equipment. I do not know where you are getting your info from but it is wrong. Sears switched from MTD to HUSQVARNA for there mlm mowers.
Chris
Technically Sears had a pretty wide mix of companies building for them, MTD was actually a pretty small supplier for most of their lawn equipment in the day (pretty much only chipper/shredders and maybe a few tillers, what MTD called the “Chore Performer” segment). The bulk of Craftsman mowers & tractors were built by Roper, who was also the OEM for a good chunk of the Kenmore line for many years. Roper got its start in the 60s by buying the old David Bradley works from Sears (whom Sears had bought many many years earlier to build their lawn equipment initially).
Roper built the majority of stuff up through the early 90s, when GE bought the appliance side of Roper and sold off the lawn and garden business to AB Electrolux, who rebranded it as American Yard Products (or AYP). Electrolux also owned Husqvarna, so they combined the division along with Weedeater and Poulan. Electrolux spun that off in the mid-2000s as the curernt Husqvarna.
As someone who’s grew up in a family that ran an OPE dealership up until the mid 2010s AND as a former engineering employee of MTD, I can say that AYP’s 1st generation of product after being spun off of Roper made MTD equipment look like John Deere 🙂 Man, they had some cheap equipment – we had it as an entry-level brand for a very brief time but did NOT renew that contract, was never worth selling.
I don’t know that the AYP brand survived very long because of that. Husqvarna’s non-chainsaw product has always been a little quirky and isn’t always as top-shelf as their saws, but it was light years better than anything they might have gotten from the ex-Roper beyond that likely coveted Sears contract.
Kenneth Stephens
In addition to you being wrong about husqvarna, you are also wrong about John Deere. All of their mowers no matter how cheap are made in Tennessee
Chris
Correct. The only residential equipment Deere had private label built in recent past were their last generation of green residential walk-behinds (built by Briggs) and snowblowers (built by a combination of companies, but primarily Noma, which was acquired by Briggs through their Murray acquisition but Deere’s relationship goes back to the Noma independent days).
Go far enough back, you also had the handheld equipment (chainsaws, brushcutters, leaf blowers, etc.) that were built by Echo and the early generation (aka 650/750/850 series) compac tractors which were built by Yanmar (whom I believe may still build some diesels for Deere today, not sure).
The lawn tractors have always been a Deere product, even the arguably unfortunate Sabre/Scott’s era equipment that Deere tried private labeling for the big box stores before throwing in the towel and giving HD & Lowe’s access to the leaping deer.
Nathan
my husquvarna push mower was made in the MTD factory in Jonesboro TN – said so on the box – this was in 2015. The John Deere small garden tractors with the Yanmar diesels are made in a non John Deere facility I believe in Indiana.
The John Deere sold at home depot is made at MTD next to the Cub Cadet that is also sold at john deere. Which is why they have the same transmissions – same blades – and all the accessories fit. When you get to the Deere garden tractors sold at the Deere implement stores – then there are significant differences.
One of the biggest things they do between brands is offer different engines on the same frames. Why one will have Kohler and one will have Brigs etc etc.
Chris
And just to add to the clarifications, Briggs & Stratton bought out Murray years back which is the source of most of their walk-behind equipment under the Snapper name. They also own several prominent legacy brands (Simplicity, Ferris, Billy Goat) and have done some amount of private label manufacturing, most notable being building John Deere’s big box walk-behinds up until Deere stopped branding residential walk-behinds (most Deere dealers now have contracts in place to sell Honda as a partnership, similar to what Deere arranged for dealers with Stihl when they exited the handheld equipment businesses).
MTD does build some private label still, but it’s a much smaller percentage of their overall output than it was back in the 80s & 90s when that was a big part of their product. Speaking as a former MTD engineering employee (and son of a 45 year+ general manager of a Deere dealership)…
scott taylor
Looks like the cub cadet 60v batteries and tools fit with the craftsman v60 tools and batteries. Now we know why they were discontinued. Got the lawn mower and chains saw for less than 200 together with a 2.5 ah and 5 ah battery and charger. They had 5 year warranty on them and for just $15 dollars lowes extended it for 3 more years. what a deal
Jared
What?! That’s news to me.
I thought the disappearance of the v60 line was awfully weird. Craftsman is still a pretty new member of SBD and was benefitting from lots of money at the time. A whole line of tools came out and then disappeared rather quickly.
They were pretty decent tools too. I have the string and hedge trimmers. Kind of nice to know I could get another battery if I wanted.
I guess what seemed weird to me was that Craftsman was represented as a do-everything brand in SBD materials – spanning the market from homeowner to pro and power tools, hand tools and OPE. I figured v60 would be the OPE so Craftsman could have cordless mowers and such. But then it was gone.
Jorhay
I got the self propelled mower, string trimmer and hedge trimmer for under $400 total on clearance from Lowes in Aug of 2019. My 7.5 aH battery died over this winter and they aren’t available for replacement anymore. So SBD sent me 2 5s. Took over 6 weeks for the entire transaction. Less than a month later and my mower stopped. Self propel still worked, but the big motor wouldn’t start. At first they offered me a new 20v mower from lowes. Then they said the mower I have isn’t available, so they offered me the push version. Received it 3 days after having to ship the old one back. I felt great about the 4 year warranty when I purchased, but it sure doesn’t seem worth much now.
Plain grainy
Looks like Stanley Black & Decker are positioning themselves for the coming electric era. I wouldn’t be surprised to see government tax credits for switching to electric yard equipment. Should give them a huge manufacturing capacity to become a major player.
Nathan
in some states landscaping companies get tax credits for moving to electric things. today nearly all the pro line OPE has a cordless system counterpart. Likewise there are 2 companies I know of that make pro level electric zero turns and stand on machines. Very expensive and I think the green ones have a kit to charge them on the truck as you drive to the next site.
Chris
Could be. MTD’s also a very large US manufacturing base in a very complimentary, non-overlapping industry for SBD, and previously a privately-held company, so in hindsight it was a very logical target compared to some of the others in the OPE business.
Brand names that are recognizable, with some goodwill (perhaps not as much as other companies in the industry). And from what I recall, they did have a pretty good investment on the R&D side in the robotic & electric side of things, so I’m sure that’s a great leg-up for SBD even in their traditional brands that dabble in OPE like Craftsman and Dewalt.
Nathan
cub cadet makes 3 different lines of riding mower with the last like the XT3 or something being the garden tractors – with ground engaging ability Meaning it will push a front end loader.
they have a PTO and they have a different hitch config. I have an XT2 which is the mid model and it has the stronger front beam. MTD has been the maker of the cub cadet machines for a number of years as far as I know and other than the cheapest line – the mid and upper lines last quite a while.
Eitherway this should be an interesting development. I would like to see more of the Flexvolt OPE – replacing the former 40V dewalt ope. If only because I like the idea of using that flexvolt battery.
Julian Tracy
Troy-Bilt should change their name to lesser built. Had a current model $799 TB snowblower I was fixing up to sell and it was a trainwreck of design just to get the carb cleaned out. So many cheap ass components to have to get thru; quite startling in comparison to any honda engine I’ve worked on.
Currently have a new $279 TB bagger mower and it’s just crap. Starts right up, but the build quality is anything but. Plastic carb with self tapping screws into the plastic to hold it to the engine…. Poster child for a mower that stops working properly just outside of the warranty period.
Regarding Dewalt and OPE, they may have started in the higher end, with all Honda engines, seems they’ve gone downmarket with their “Dewalt” engines, basically just cheap Chinese Honda clones now on many newer models.
Mike (the other one)
I hope SBD keeps the better quality lawn maintenance brands. I feel like the DeWalt name is being stuck on everything, and is diluting the brand. I believe this also applies to the Craftsman name.
What’s the point of having so many brands if they all have the same tools?
Troy-Built mowers used to be a good brand for home gamers, but the quality had steadily declined, as if they are only meant to last a year or two before needing to be replaced. I hope SBD addresses this, as even the higher end brands are not as impressive as they used to be.
I do want to see some innovation. I’d love to see a gas-powered tractor with a built in battery charger for cordless trimmers, etc. Charge while you mow.
Hon Cho
“What’s the point of having so many brands if they all have the same tools?”
Consumers aren’t always very bright. One will say Brand A is the best and Brand B sucks when both A and B are made by the same company in the same factory and differ only in color and cosmetic details. Look at all the studies about how fancy pretty labels influence wine choice. People truly believe more expensive things are better even when they’re exact same product. SB&D with a huge portfolio of brands can reach more consumers with very little additional investment in actual product differentation.
Those folks with their spreadsheets may not know much about mowers, but they do know how to squeeze more revenue out of their target markets. It’s just business.
Chris
Brands are a funny thing, that’s for sure. I think you’re spot on. Interestingly enough, MTD’s bread-and-butter for most of the late 70s/80s/early 90s was in the private label business, building for literally hundreds of house brands at various retailers. They figured out in the early 90s that they would be better off controlling the brands themselves and building markets that way, directing those brands at specific channels accordingly with specific features and capabilities.
By the end of the 90’s, I believe they had cut the private label business down to a VERY small percentage, and grew the brands that many would more widely recognize today that they had in house control of – Cub Cadet, White, Yard-Man, and positioning the new entry level “Yard Machines” as the bottom tier.
That focus on building brands is part of why they went on to acquire Troy-Built and Bolens through the Garden Way acquistion, though I think it may be fair to say that their execution on Bolens was pretty weak (and Troy-Built is nowhere near the boutique tiller brand it was under Garden Way). I’m sure there’s other examples I’m not thinking off at the moment…
Matt J.
Home Depot has been selling rebadged Cub Cadet ZT mowers as Dewalt for a year or so now. Guess this was the next logical step. Could see this lending some more consumer appeal to the battery-powered Cub Cadet ZTs that seem to have gotten no love at my local HD.
lee hopkins
I love my CC mower I hope they don’t screw around with the CC Brand.
Rick
“Stanley Black & Decker says they are welcoming MTD’s 7,500 employees to their family.”
A pink slip for you and you and you…..
loup68
I worked in maintenance at the original MTD plant in Parma (Cleveland), Ohio for 34 years until they closed our plant. I knew the owners. From what we were told at a meeting with them, they had to come out with their own brand “MTD Yard Machines” because no one knew who MTD was and companies were dropping the expense of having private label brands or going under. We made mowers for everyone except Sears. White Motors, Montgomery Ward, J.C. Penney, Builders Square, ect.
While I was there they bought Cub Cadet and Yard Man. Later they bought Troy Bilt and Bolens. We had two blade lines and made about 60% of their lawn mower blades. We had a machine builders department and they automated the very labor intensive blade straightening and balancing. Later they built two huge blade sharpeners for each line that used a carbide cutter to make the blade edge on both sides at the same time. No one elses blades were sharpened that way.
MTD has plants in Germany, Australia and South America also.
Later on they made us and the Liverpool plant make only automotive parts.
Including 1960- 2006 Corvette parts.