who owns hershey

The Hershey Company is a publicly traded company, but effective control rests with the Hershey Trust Company , a charitable trust that funds the Milton Hershey School.

Who “owns” Hershey?

• The Hershey Trust Company is the largest single shareholder of The Hershey Company and holds a controlling stake.

• Although Hershey’s shares trade on the stock market under the ticker HSY and are widely held by many institutional and retail investors, the Trust’s special share structure gives it dominant voting power.

How the control structure works

• The Trust holds roughly 28% of Hershey’s outstanding shares but controls close to 79% of the shareholder voting power through almost all of the Class B shares.

• This means big institutions like Vanguard, BlackRock, and others own sizable economic stakes, but strategic control over major decisions effectively stays with the Hershey Trust.

Why this structure exists

• Milton S. Hershey set up the Trust so company profits would support the Milton Hershey School, which serves children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Because of that design, Hershey’s “ultimate” beneficiaries are the school and its students, rather than only traditional shareholders seeking short‑term gains.

Quick HTML table of key owners

html

<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th>Owner / Group</th>
      <th>Role</th>
      <th>Approx. stake / influence</th>
      <th>Notes</th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td>Hershey Trust Company</td>
      <td>Controlling shareholder</td>
      <td>~28% of shares, ~79% of voting power [web:1]</td>
      <td>Controls Class B stock; primary steward of Hershey’s long-term mission. [web:1]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Institutional investors (e.g., Vanguard, BlackRock, others)</td>
      <td>Major financial shareholders</td>
      <td>Collectively hold a large portion of HSY common stock. [web:1][web:3]</td>
      <td>Provide capital and market liquidity but lack controlling votes. [web:1][web:3]</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Retail investors</td>
      <td>Individual shareholders</td>
      <td>Smaller individual holdings</td>
      <td>Participate via the public market in HSY shares.</td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
      <td>Milton Hershey School (via Trust)</td>
      <td>Ultimate beneficiary</td>
      <td>Receives funding from Hershey Trust’s holdings. [web:1]</td>
      <td>Philanthropic mission underpins the ownership structure. [web:1]</td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>

Recent context and news angle

• As of 2025, Hershey continues to operate under this Trust-controlled model while expanding through acquisitions like Sour Strips and planned deals such as LesserEvil, reinforcing the Trust’s long-term growth focus.

• Leadership has also evolved recently, with Kirk Tanner taking over as President and CEO in 2025, under a board still ultimately influenced by the Hershey Trust’s voting control.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.