who owns waste management
Waste Management (now branded simply as WM) is a publicly traded company, so it is not “owned” by a single person or family, but by many shareholders, with large stakes held by big investment firms and funds.
Who “owns” Waste Management today?
WM trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker WM , which means its shares are bought and sold on the open market. Because of this:
- There is no single owner who fully controls Waste Management.
- Ownership is split mainly among:
- Large institutional investors (asset managers, pension funds, mutual funds, ETFs).
* Individual/retail investors (regular people buying shares through brokers).
* Company insiders (executives and board members) with a relatively small stake.
Analyses of WM’s shareholder base indicate that around four-fifths of the company is held by institutional investors , with insiders holding just over 1% and the rest held by retail investors.
Biggest shareholders and stakes
Different data sources vary slightly, but they consistently show that WM’s largest owners are giant investment firms , not its founders or a single billionaire.
Key points:
- Institutional investors (mutual funds, ETFs, pensions, etc.) hold roughly 79–84% of the shares.
- Retail/public investors hold roughly 15–20%.
- Insiders (management and directors) control a small fraction, about 1%.
Examples of major institutional holders mentioned in public ownership breakdowns include The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street and other large asset managers, plus major index and pension funds.
Here’s a simplified snapshot of the ownership structure:
| Holder type | Approx. ownership share | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Institutional investors | ~79–84% of shares | [5][7]These are big asset managers, mutual funds, pension funds – they collectively have the most voting power. |
| Retail / public investors | ~15–20% of shares | [7][5]Everyday investors who own WM stock through brokers or retirement accounts. |
| Company insiders | ~1% of shares | [5][7]Executives and directors with stock and options; they influence strategy via management roles more than sheer share count. |
Founders vs current owners
Waste Management’s founders – including Dean L. Buntrock, Wayne Huizenga, and Larry Beck – created and grew the business starting in 1968, turning it into a national waste-services powerhouse and taking it public in 1971. Over decades of mergers, stock issuance, and trading on the public markets, ownership shifted away from founders toward today’s broad base of institutional and public shareholders.
In other words:
- The founders built WM, but
- Today, WM is “owned” by its shareholders , especially large institutional investors and funds that hold the biggest blocks of stock.
TL;DR: If you’re asking “who owns Waste Management,” the real-world answer is: thousands of shareholders, dominated by big institutions like index funds and asset managers, with no single controlling owner.
Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.
