MCDONALD’S CORPORATION

McDonald’s Corporation is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: MCD), so its shareholder base is disclosed through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s beneficial-ownership reporting regime rather than a single public shareholder register. The registry data reviewed for this profile records two institutional holders – Vanguard Group Inc and the iShares Trust – iShares Core S&P 500 ETF – but the 18.4% figure attributed to Vanguard in that record is materially higher than the position Vanguard itself discloses to the SEC, so it has not been repeated here. Based on McDonald’s 2026 proxy statement and Schedule 13G / 13G-A filings made with the SEC, the largest disclosed holders of McDonald’s Corporation common stock are The Vanguard Group, Inc., with approximately 71.6 million shares (about 10.0% of the class); BlackRock, Inc., with approximately 52.4 million shares (about 7.3%); and State Street Corporation, with 35,458,503 shares (5.00%), each reporting its position in early 2026 as a passive institutional investor rather than for the purpose of influencing control of the company. Because SEC rules require a public filing only once a holder’s stake exceeds 5% of the class, these three names represent the largest disclosed positions rather than a complete shareholder base; smaller institutional and individual holdings are not separately identified in public filings.

Data availability

Shareholder disclosure for McDonald’s Corporation is major shareholders only: SEC rules require an individual ownership filing solely once a holder’s stake in the class exceeds 5%, so positions below that threshold are not publicly itemised. None of the disclosed holders is a natural person, and none is identified in its own filing as part of a coordinated ownership group, so no beneficial owner distinct from these institutional asset managers can be established from the available filings.

Sources

• The Vanguard Group, Inc. – Schedule 13G/A, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), reporting a position as of 31 December 2025. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
• State Street Corporation – Schedule 13G, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR), reporting a position as of 31 March 2026. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
• McDonald’s Corporation – Notice of 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Proxy Statement (Form DEF 14A), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Stock Ownership section. Retrieved 11 September 2026.

Washington State’s foreign-corporation record for McDonald’s Corporation (registration number 600225315) lists five individuals with the status Governing Person, all currently shown as active, with no appointment or resignation dates disclosed for any of them. This Washington filing is an administrative state record rather than the company’s primary board or executive disclosure; McDonald’s Corporation, as a U.S. public company, separately discloses its board of directors and named executive officers in more detail through its annual proxy statement and Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Cross-checking the five names against those SEC filings confirms that Christopher Kempczinski holds the role of Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of McDonald’s Corporation, and that Catherine Engelbert and Amy Weaver are independent, non-management members of the company’s twelve-person Board of Directors as nominated for the 2026 annual shareholders’ meeting. The remaining two names on the Washington filing, William Vadbunker and Sharon Ashton, could not be matched to a specific disclosed board or executive-officer role in McDonald’s SEC filings using verifiable primary sources, so no title is attributed to them here.

Recent officer changes

On 4 February 2026, McDonald’s Corporation’s Board of Directors voted to increase its size to twelve members and elected James Farley, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Ford Motor Company, as a new independent director, effective that date, according to the company’s Form 8-K filed with the SEC.

Data availability

Officer and director information for McDonald’s Corporation is partial when drawn only from the Washington Secretary of State filing, which records names and an active or inactive status under the single category of Governing Person, without appointment dates, resignation dates, occupation, nationality or country of residence. Nationality is not disclosed in any of the sources reviewed for this profile and has not been inferred from any individual’s name, country of residence or correspondence address. The country value shown against each individual in the underlying record reflects the filing’s address field, not a confirmed residence or nationality. More complete information on the composition of the Board of Directors and the company’s executive officers is available in McDonald’s annual proxy statement and Form 10-K.

Sources

• Washington Secretary of State – corporate registration record for McDonald’s Corporation, registration number 600225315. Retrieved 9 September 2026.
• McDonald’s Corporation – Notice of 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Proxy Statement (Form DEF 14A), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 2026. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
• McDonald’s Corporation – Form 8-K, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, filed 4 February 2026 (director appointment). Retrieved 11 September 2026.

McDonald’s Corporation has no parent company: it is a New York Stock Exchange-listed public company (ticker: MCD) sitting at the top of its own corporate group. Corporate-linkage data reviewed for this profile lists several dozen further group entities across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, consistent with McDonald’s globally franchised operating model, in which the company typically owns the operating and property-holding entities in each market rather than the individual franchised restaurants. Two entities are well documented in the public record as direct operating subsidiaries of McDonald’s Corporation: McDonald’s USA, LLC, the company’s principal operating and franchising entity for restaurants in the United States, and McDonald’s International Property Company, Ltd., which holds McDonald’s trademarks and intellectual property used outside the United States. Ownership percentages for individual group entities, including these two, are not disclosed in the available data, and it should not be assumed that McDonald’s Corporation holds 100% of every entity shown in the corporate-linkage data.

One relationship in the underlying corporate-linkage data requires a specific correction. That data nests McDonald’s mainland China operating entities beneath McDonald’s Corporation without indicating an ownership percentage, which would suggest a conventional subsidiary relationship. Independent verification shows this is not accurate: in November 2023, McDonald’s Corporation agreed to acquire The Carlyle Group’s interest in the joint venture that operates McDonald’s restaurants in mainland China, increasing McDonald’s equity stake from 20% to 48%, while a consortium led by CITIC Capital’s Trustar Capital retained a controlling 52% interest. McDonald’s mainland China operating entities are therefore best described as joint-venture affiliates in which McDonald’s Corporation holds a large minority interest, rather than as subsidiaries it controls.

Recent structural changes

In November 2023, McDonald’s Corporation completed the acquisition of The Carlyle Group’s stake in the McDonald’s China joint venture, raising its equity interest from 20% to 48%; the CITIC Capital-led consortium (via Trustar Capital) continues to hold the controlling 52% interest and consolidate the joint venture.

Data availability

Group-structure information for McDonald’s Corporation is partial: the available corporate-linkage data lists many group entities by name, country and an internal registration reference, but does not disclose ownership or voting percentages for individual entities, meaning the degree of control over most listed entities cannot be independently confirmed from that data alone. Verification against public filings and news was carried out selectively for the entities discussed above rather than for the full list of group entities.

Sources

• The Carlyle Group – official news release confirming the sale of its interest in the McDonald’s China joint venture, November 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2026.
• Reputable news reporting (CNBC, South China Morning Post) on the McDonald’s China ownership transaction, November 2023. Retrieved 11 September 2026.