Waterford Wedgwood

Waterford Wedgwood plc

Company type	Public limited company
Industry	Household goods
Founded	1987
Defunct	2009
Fate	Assets purchased by KPS Capital Partners
Successor	WWRD Holdings Limited
Headquarters	Waterford , Ireland
Key people	Tony O'Reilly (lead shareholder; chairman 1995–2009) Peter Goulandris
Products	Ceramics and glass items
Subsidiaries	Waterford Crystal Wedgwood Rosenthal Royal Doulton Cashs of Ireland

Waterford Wedgwood plc was an Irish holding company for a group of firms that specialized in the manufacture of high-quality porcelain, bone china and glass products, mostly for use as tableware or home decor. The group was dominated by Irish businessman Tony O'Reilly and his family, including his wife Chryss Goulandris and her family, with the two families together having invested hundreds of millions of euros in it. The group's financial record was mixed, and significant cost-cutting had been ongoing for many years.

In 2009, parts of the group, including the main Irish and UK operations, were placed into receivership^[1] and acquired by KPS Capital Partners, a New York–based private equity firm. Waterford Crystal and Wedgwood, along with Royal Doulton and other brands, were transferred to a new company named WWRD Holdings Limited (with WWRD as an acronym for 'Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton').^[2] In July 2015, WWRD Holdings was acquired by Fiskars, a Finnish consumer goods company.^[3]