That's not what the guy I knew that worked at Ryobi said. I was also
aware of the Homelite aquisition.

After he told me about the nonsense going on at Ryobi ... he was
eventually laid off. My first hint that it was true was actually in the
Ryobi outdoor line. My gas power trimmer (Ryobi) was not appearing in HD
for a while, and the John Deere stuff now had the replaceable implements
that Ryobi had developed. And the JD heads were compatible to the
Ryobi's. So for a while it definetly seemed like JD was moving in.. but
it appeared only long enough to strip maybe patents and destroy the
companies before moving on.

On 4/9/2012 12:27 PM, dpb wrote:
On 4/9/2012 9:14 AM, tiredofspam wrote:
Ryobi had been owned by John Deere during the 90s....

No, don't think so.

Maybe you're thinking of the Homelite homeowner outdoor tools. Deere did
own Homelite for a while and divested themselves of it (to TTI) but
afaik never Ryobi.

Deere & Co acquires Textron Inc-Homelite Division from Textron Inc Aug
29, 1994


TechTronics Industries Co acquires Deere & Co-Homelite Consumer from
Deere & Co TechTronics Industries Co acquires Deere & Co-Homelite
Consumer from Deere & Co Nov 16, 2001

http://www.alacrastore.com/mergers-acquisitions/Deere_Company-1004803

for detailed listing of Deere acquisitions/dispositions from early 80s
forward.

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