Overview
- The Düsseldorf-based group celebrated its 150th anniversary in late September, with Chancellor Friedrich Merz noting he worked at Henkel briefly in the 1980s and praising the company’s decision to withdraw from its Russia business after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- Henkel remains a global leader in consumer brands and adhesives with about €20.5 billion in 2025 revenue, roughly 50,000 employees and operations across more than 50 countries, split roughly half between consumer goods and industrial adhesives.
- New attention to Joachim Scholtyseck’s recent historical study has reopened public debate over Henkel’s conduct in the Nazi era, including its classification as a ‘nationalsozialistischer Musterbetrieb’ and the use of hundreds of forced laborers during World War II.
- The company is under active competition scrutiny in the United States where the Federal Trade Commission sued over a recent adhesives acquisition, adding to a history of antitrust probes that included EU concern about a detergent cartel in the early 2000s.
- Henkel’s long-term challenge is to find new growth beyond legacy brands as higher energy costs, shifting consumer preference toward cheaper private labels and a 2023 restructuring that cut jobs put pressure on margins and strategic deals.