Mercedes-Benz is independent. It owns itself.

100 years, one owner since 1980

The year is coloured by whoever held it at the time.

1. 1926 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. merged on 28 and 29 June 1926 to form Daimler-Benz AG.
2. 1998 Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corporation combined in 1998 in what both managements called a merger of equals, and the business continued under the name DaimlerChrysler AG. Control did not pass to anyone. DaimlerChrysler AG was a newly formed German stock corporation with no business of its own; Daimler-Benz shareholders exchanged their shares for its shares, more than 98 per cent of the Daimler-Benz shares were tendered, and former Daimler-Benz shareholders held about 58 per cent of the combined company against about 42 per cent for former Chrysler shareholders. Chrysler's shares last traded in New York on 12 November 1998 and DaimlerChrysler shares began official trading on 17 November; the combination was completed when Daimler-Benz AG was merged into DaimlerChrysler AG on 21 December 1998, which the company's first annual report to the SEC describes as making it the successor corporation to Daimler-Benz Aktiengesellschaft. There was no controlling shareholder on either side of the date: the largest holder, Deutsche Bank, went from 22 per cent to 12 per cent in the combination and the filing states that it did not control the company, and the Emirate of Kuwait held about 7 per cent. The company was renamed Daimler AG in 2007 and Mercedes-Benz Group AG in 2022. Chrysler Corporation, the other party, no longer exists as a separate legal person and is not an entity in this dataset.
3. 2007 DaimlerChrysler sold 80.1 percent of Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management and took the name Daimler AG.
4. 2018 Geely founder Li Shufu acquired 9.69 percent of Daimler AG through a Geely subsidiary, becoming its largest single shareholder.
5. 2021 Daimler spun off Daimler Truck Holding AG and listed it in Frankfurt on 10 December 2021, leaving the group focused on cars and vans.
6. 2022 Daimler AG was renamed Mercedes-Benz Group AG on 1 February 2022 and its ticker changed from DAI to MBG.