Early years: 1923–1950s

Merritt J. "M.J." Osborn founded Economics Laboratory in 1923. The company's original product was Absorbit, a product designed to quickly clean carpets in hotel rooms. This was soon followed by Soilax, a dishwasher soap.

During the 1930s, the company expanded throughout the United States, with sales reaching US$5.4 million by the end of 1940s. It acquired the Magnus Company in the early 1950s, giving the company access to Magnus's industrial specialty businesses – including pulp and paper, metalworking, transportation, and petrochemical processing.^[3]

Transition to a public corporation and expansion: 1950s–1986

In the 1950s, international expansion of Economics Laboratory started with the establishment of its first overseas subsidiary in Sweden in 1956. It became a publicly traded corporation in 1957.^[3] In 1979, it acquired Apollo Technologies, which would be shut down in 1983 as a subsidiary. In 1984, EcoLab acquired pest elimination company Lystads, Inc., of Grand Forks, North Dakota.^[5]

Ecolab Inc.: 1986–2000

In 1986, the company changed its name from Economics Laboratory to Ecolab Inc. and was listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1987, the company formed a textile care division.

In 1987, Ecolab purchased the lawncare servicer provider ChemLawn for $376 million. It sold the acquisition in 1992 to ServiceMaster for $103 million as it couldn't turn ChemLawn into a profitable business.^[3]

Ecolab and the German fast-moving consumer goods firm Henkel KGaA formed a 50:50 European joint venture called 'Henkel-Ecolab' in 1991 to expand into European and Russian markets.^[6]

Ecolab continued to acquire companies in the 1990s, including Kay Chemical (1993), Australia-based Gibson Chemical Industries Ltd (1997), and GCS Service Inc (1998).

Ecolab Inc.: 2000–present

In the mid-2000s, strategic acquisitions continued, and Ecolab diversified its portfolio of customer offerings by venturing into the food safety management business as well as a healthcare business unit.

In 2004, Douglas M. Baker, Jr. was named chief executive officer. In 2006, he also was named chairman of Ecolab's board of directors.^[7]

In 2005, the company opened a new global research, development, and engineering center in Eagan, Minnesota.^[6]

In 2006, Ecolab won the Black Pearl Award for Corporate Excellence in Food Safety and Quality, presented by the International Association of Food Protection (IAFP).^[8]

In 2007, Ecolab acquired Microtek Medical Holdings, Inc., expanding its infection prevention expertise and offerings to hospitals and other healthcare facilities.^[9]

In 2008, Henkel sold all of the 73 million shares, nearly a 29.5% stake it held in Ecolab, ending the two-decade-long partnership.^[10][11][12] The same year, Ecolab established Zurich as its Europe, the Middle East and Africa headquarters.^[6]

In July 2011, Ecolab announced a merger with Nalco Holding Company, Inc., an industrial water technology firm. In December 2011, Nalco, later renamed Nalco Water, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Ecolab after Ecolab completed the $5.4 billion acquisition.^{[13][14][15][16]}

In May 2012, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, through his investment vehicles Cascade Investment and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, increased his stake of 10.8% in Ecolab to 25%.^[17][18][19]

In August 2012, Ecolab opened its Taicang, China, manufacturing plant. The facility, one of the company's largest, helped expand Ecolab's presence in Greater China and was the company's first plant to recycle 100% of its wastewater.

In October 2012, Ecolab entered an agreement to acquire Champion Technologies, a global specialty chemical company.^[20] The $2.2 billion transaction closed in April 2013.^[21]

In November 2014, Ecolab, working with TruCost, launched the Water Risk Monetizer.^[22] It provides an online, no-cost financial modeling tool to assess and monetize the risk of water scarcity.

Ecolab's headquarters in Saint Paul, Minnesota^[23]

In November 2015, for $40.5 million, Ecolab acquired the U.S. operations of Swisher Hygiene, which provides hygiene and sanitizing solutions for the foodservice, hospitality, retail and healthcare markets.^[24][25]

In June 2016, Ecolab announced plans to acquire Laboratoires Anios, a leading European manufacturer and marketer of hygiene and disinfection products for the healthcare, food service, and food and beverage markets. Based in Lille, France, Anios served customers in 85 countries and had 2015 sales of approximately $245 million. The $800 million transaction closed on February 1, 2017.^[26][27]

In July 2016, Ecolab made a minority investment in Aquatech International, LLC of an undisclosed amount.^[28][29]

In August 2016, the company opened a Latin America regional headquarters in Miramar, Florida.^[30]

In October 2016, Ecolab acquired the assets of UltraClenz, a developer of electronic hand hygiene compliance monitoring systems and dispensers.^[31]

In March 2018, Bill Gates purchased $230 million in additional shares of Ecolab via Cascade Investments.^[32][33]

In Oct 2019, Ecolab acquired an Australian company Gallay Medical & Scientific who is a leader in providing medical devices, equipment, chemistry and service to the medical, dental, scientific and pharmaceutical industries. ^[34]

In October 2020, Christophe Beck was named the next CEO of Ecolab, effective January 1, 2021.^[35]

In October 2021, Ecolab acquired Purolite, a provider of ion-exchange resins for biopharmaceutical purification for approximately $3.7 billion.^[36]

In August 2022, Bill Gates purchased additional stock through Cascade, though his overall stake dropped to 11%.^[32][33]

In May 2023, Ecolab partnered with and invested in Miso Robotics, a company specializing in automated in-restaurant robotic arms and other equipment for food preparation and staff augmentation.^[37]