Who Owns Your RC Brand? The Industry Map

Completed Axial crawler articulating over a curb — SOURCE PHOTOGRAPH
Manufacturer action image: completed Axial crawler negotiating a curb.
Specific Axial crawler in an action pose; it does not demonstrate body fit, inspection or a weight-placement procedure.
Axial Adventure; Bender's AX10 Ridgecrest Stage 3 (photographer not identified) · Manufacturer copyright; permission required before public release
Photo credit & source ↗

From the September 2026 research edition. Product details and prices are dated source records; confirm the exact model and manual before buying or making changes.

Walk into a hobby shop and the wall of boxes looks like a crowd of competing companies: ARRMA, Losi, Axial, Pro-Line, Spektrum, Team Associated, Reedy, HPI. In reality, a lot of those logos lead back to a handful of owners.

Knowing who owns what is more than trivia. It explains why a Spektrum receiver shows up in so many trucks, why parts and support can move between websites, and why a pricing dispute between two companies can ripple through the whole hobby.

This guide maps the ownership of major electric RC brands and retailers, based on public records and reporting. Where we could not confirm something, we say so.

Key takeaways

Horizon Hobby owns ARRMA, Axial, Losi, Spektrum, Pro-Line, Trinity Racing, Tower Hobbies and more.

Horizon picked up ARRMA, Axial and Tower Hobbies from the 2018 Hobbico bankruptcy for $18.8 million.

Team Associated has been owned by Taiwan's Thunder Tiger since 2005; HPI Racing has been owned by the Vestergaard Group since 2019.

Castle Creations has been part of Pivot International since October 2019. Traxxas remains privately held.

On the retail side, AMain Hobbies bought HobbyTown in 2023, and Megahobby.com announced its closure in November 2025.

The map at a glance

Brand	Owner (latest confirmed)	Since
ARRMA	Horizon Hobby	2018 (from Hobbico)
Axial	Horizon Hobby	2018 (from Hobbico)
Tower Hobbies (retailer)	Horizon Hobby	2018 (from Hobbico)
Losi, Spektrum, E-flite, Blade, HobbyZone	Horizon Hobby	Listed in Horizon's history
Pro-Line Racing	Horizon Hobby	Announced August 10, 2020
AKA Products, RealFlight	Horizon Hobby	2021
Trinity Racing	Horizon Hobby	2023
Team Associated (with Reedy, Factory Team, XP, Element RC)	Thunder Tiger	2005
HPI Racing	Vestergaard Group	2019
Castle Creations	Pivot International	October 25, 2019
Traxxas	Privately held	n/a
HobbyTown (retail chain)	AMain Hobbies	July 2023

Horizon Hobby: the biggest family tree

Beginnings and ownership

Horizon Hobby was founded in July 1985 in Champaign, Illinois, and began shipping on October 1, 1985. On December 9, 2013, Horizon announced it would be acquired by an investor group led by CEO Joe Ambrose, made up of Armory Capital, LLC of Champaign and Mill City Capital L.P. of Minneapolis, with closing expected in January 2014. Joe Ambrose died in January 2019, and Chris Dickerson was named President.

Who owns Horizon today? We could not verify it. We found no public report of an ownership change after the 2014 buyout. PitchBook lists Horizon as private, with about 700 employees and headquarters in Champaign.

The Hobbico deal (2018)

Hobbico was also based in Champaign. It had itself acquired Axial and ARRMA in January 2012. Then:

January 10, 2018: Hobbico filed for Chapter 11 and said the company was for sale.
April 3, 2018: A bankruptcy judge approved Horizon Hobby's $18.8 million purchase of Hobbico's RC business. Horizon was the only bidder for those units, and closing was set for April 6, 2018.
April 2018: Hobbico's 300+ employees had to reapply to Horizon by April 6.
June 30, 2018: Hobbico moved to Chapter 7 liquidation.

Not everything went to Horizon. Estes was sold for $7 million to The Langford Group, approved the same day. The auction for United Model, Revell US and Revell Germany was temporarily suspended at that point. A Lincoln International transaction summary says Hobbico's operating assets were ultimately split among Horizon Hobby, Estes Industries and Quantum Capital Partners AG (Revell).

The Great Planes question

Sources disagree about one piece of the deal. The News-Gazette and RedRC, both reporting in April 2018, said Horizon bought the "Great Planes and Tower Hobbies divisions" along with the Axial and ARRMA brands. Wikipedia's Hobbico article says Horizon got most RC brands while "explicitly excluding Great Planes Manufacturing." One possible explanation is that the distribution division and the manufacturing entity were treated differently, but this conflict is unresolved, so treat any flat statement about Great Planes' fate with caution.

Later acquisitions

Pro-Line Racing: Horizon announced the purchase on August 10, 2020. Pro-Line was founded in 1982 and stayed in Banning, California. Terms were not disclosed.
AKA Products and RealFlight (from Knife Edge Software): 2021.
Trinity Racing: 2023.

Horizon's history page lists these brands: Losi, Spektrum, ARRMA, Axial, Pro-Line, E-flite, Blade, HobbyZone, Tower Hobbies, RealFlight, AKA and Trinity Racing. Tower Hobbies still runs as a retailer, and its site footer reads "Copyright 2026 © Horizon Hobby, LLC."

Recent turbulence

Two episodes, both described in Big Squid RC opinion columns, show how central Horizon is:

In 2025, Horizon cancelled RC Fest (planned for June 6–7 in Monticello, Illinois) and Axialfest, citing budget reasons.
In September 2025, Team Associated publicly accused Horizon of "unauthorized price reductions" on Associated vehicles, which became a public dispute over MAP (minimum advertised price, the lowest price a retailer is allowed to advertise).

We found no reputable report of Horizon layoffs in 2024–2026.

Team Associated and Thunder Tiger

Thunder Tiger, a Taiwanese RC manufacturer, bought Associated Electrics (Team Associated) in 2005. Associated's family of brands includes Reedy, Factory Team, XP and Element RC.

HPI Racing: from California to Scandinavia

HPI was founded in 1986 in Southern California by Tatsuro Watanabe as Hobby Products International. In 2016, the HPI and HB brands split, and Ripmax, a UK company, acquired HPI Racing. In 2019, the Vestergaard Group, a Scandinavian distributor, took ownership. HPI Racing A/S Limited appears as a registered UK company, number 12121836. We found no ownership change after 2019.

Castle Creations and Pivot International

Castle Creations, the Kansas City-area maker of ESCs (electronic speed controls) and brushless motors, was acquired by Pivot International, which completed the deal on October 25, 2019. At the time, Castle held 16 patents. We found no reports of a sale, closure or layoffs at Castle in 2024–2026.

Traxxas

Traxxas is privately held and based in McKinney, Texas. Wikipedia names Jim Jenkins as founder and Mike Jenkins as owner.

Retail: consolidation and closures

AMain Hobbies and HobbyTown

In July 2023, AMain Hobbies bought HobbyTown, which then had 106 franchise stores in 35 states, plus its Lincoln, Nebraska headquarters and distribution center. AMain CEO Kendall Bennett called the combined company "the largest hobby retail chain in the world." Both are operating in 2026; AMain ran a St. Patrick's Day sale in March 2026, and HobbyTown's site footer reads "Copyright © 2026 HobbyTown Unlimited, Inc." The current HobbyTown store count is unverified, because the store locator does not list a total.

AMain has also signed an exclusive distribution partnership with Vanquish Products and a distribution agreement with Redcat. We could not confirm the dates of those deals.

Closures

Megahobby.com, an online model and hobby retailer in New Jersey, announced on November 12, 2025 that it is closing and expected to stay open until about Q3 2026. AAA Hobbies, a shop next door, is also closing. No official reason was given. Commenters speculated about tariffs and demographics, but that is speculation.
Model Empire in West Allis, Wisconsin, a 55-year-old shop focused mainly on models rather than RC, announced it would close its storefront in Q1 2026 and continue online, citing retirement, industry changes and an aging customer base.
Forum threads report other local RC shop closures, such as T&T Hobby Shop in the Dallas–Fort Worth area and RC Hobby Explosion. Those reports are unverified outside the forums.

Why ownership matters to you

Shared electronics. Brands under one roof often share radio systems and batteries. For example, current ARRMA 223S trucks use Spektrum motors and Spektrum ESC/receivers.
Parts and support can move. When a brand changes hands, parts may be sold through a new site or distributor.
Pricing policy spreads. A MAP decision at a large distributor can affect what many shops charge, as the 2025 Associated–Horizon dispute showed.
Local shops are under pressure. A Big Squid columnist described 2025 as "a transition year" spent "navigating tariffs," with "the long tail of coming out of the COVID-era boom-and-correction cycle."

What to watch out for

Old "who owns what" lists. Many predate the 2018 Hobbico sale or the 2020 Pro-Line deal.
Confusing brand and factory. Owning a brand does not tell you where its products are made.
Repeating rumors. Layoff and sale rumors spread fast on forums; wait for a reputable report.
The Great Planes detail. Sources conflict, so do not state it as settled.

FAQ

Who owns ARRMA and Axial?

Horizon Hobby. Hobbico acquired both in January 2012, and Horizon bought them in 2018 as part of its $18.8 million purchase of Hobbico's RC business.

Is Pro-Line owned by Horizon Hobby?

Yes. Horizon announced the acquisition on August 10, 2020. Pro-Line remains in Banning, California.

Who owns Team Associated?

Thunder Tiger, a Taiwanese RC manufacturer, bought Associated Electrics in 2005.

Who owns HPI Racing now?

The Vestergaard Group, a Scandinavian distributor, since 2019. Ripmax owned it from 2016.

Is Traxxas owned by a bigger company?

Traxxas is privately held and based in McKinney, Texas. Wikipedia names Mike Jenkins as its owner.