Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American company that manufactures gasoline engines, and is based in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. The company is a major producer of engines, with an average production of 10 million units per year as of April 2015. Briggs & Stratton has 13 large facilities located in the United States, as well as 8 additional facilities in other countries such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Mexico, and the Netherlands. The company's products are sold in over 100 countries worldwide, making it a significant player in the global engine market.
History
Briggs & Stratton Corporation is an American manufacturer of small gasoline engines and automotive components, founded in 1908 by Stephen Foster Briggs and Harold M. Stratton. In 1919, the company purchased the manufacturing rights for a small vehicle with a gasoline engine called the Smith Flyer and made engine improvements, renaming it the Briggs & Stratton Flyer. During World War II, Briggs & Stratton produced generators for the war effort, and in the post-war era, the company's expertise in using aluminum helped secure its successful growth throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The company went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1928 and has since acquired various businesses such as Evinrude and Johnson Outboards, Strattec Security Corporation, and the Victa Lawn Care business from GUD Holdings Limited Australia. In 2020, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and was purchased by KPS Capital Partners, which waived the $900 million that Briggs owed going into bankruptcy.
