Honeywell brings Wall Street to uptown with Nasdaq bell ceremony
Charlotte-based Honeywell Technologies hosted the Nasdaq closing bell live at its headquarters in uptown on Thursday afternoon.
Read more Used the Chick-fil-A app? Data breach may have impacted NC customers
Honeywell CEO Vimal Kapur had the honor of ringing the bell alongside other leaders from Honeywell Technologies. The moment was shown live in New York’s Time’s Square.
The celebration came right after the company completed its separation to become a standalone group. Honeywell Technologies produces industrial automation products, and the revamped business will emphasize controls, intelligence, and safety. In February 2025, Honeywell announced plans to split into three publicly traded companies. In late June, Honeywell Technologies was the last to complete the spin-off.
The company is transitioning from a diversified industrial conglomerate to a pure-play automation leader across building, industrial, and energy sectors.
Using the movie industry as an analogy, Kapur told The Charlotte Observer that Honeywell Technologies is more like the behind-the-scenes camera crew of everyday technology than the movie stars. This includes helping hospitals automate operations and building infrastructure, keeping data centers running through automation systems that support digital infrastructure, and streamlining the energy sector by automating oil refineries and producing residential gas meters.
“We touch life in every way, but we are a more behind-the-scenes company which is making an impact on our daily lives, and that’s what really makes us very proud,” he added. “We don’t want to be in the front. We are happy to be in the back because that’s how we serve our customer well.”
The company says this milestone reinforces its next chapter and its commitment to Charlotte as its technology headquarters and its continued investment in the region’s talent and economy.
Stock exchange opening and closing bells date back to the late 1800s — long before digital clocks and automated systems — when traders on crowded floors needed a clear signal for when trading could legally start at 9:30 a.m. and stop at 4 p.m. Eastern Time.
Nasdaq is a major American stock exchange operating entirely through an electronic network, serving as a global marketplace where investors buy and sell shares of thousands of publicly traded companies. It began in 1971 as an electronic market without a trading floor, later adopting the bell-ringing tradition as a high-profile way for companies to highlight major milestones and financial events.
On Thursday evening, the Uptown skyline was scheduled to be illuminated in red in honor of Honeywell Technologies’ celebration.
In February 2025, Honeywell announced plans to split into three standalone, industry-focused companies aimed at serving distinct markets. The first phase of this transformation created Solstice Advanced Materials, a specialty chemicals and materials company that began trading on Nasdaq under the ticker SOLS on Oct. 30. Honeywell followed by completing the separation of Honeywell Aerospace on June 29, establishing an independent aerospace and defense company listed on Nasdaq as HONA.
Honeywell Technologies was the third and final company. It continues to trade on Nasdaq under HON and remains headquartered in Charlotte.
Read more A Charlotte foodie’s guide to rooftops, barbecue and waterfront eats
“The Nasdaq ceremony is more of a celebration today … because we have reinvented ourselves as a new company, even though our ticker doesn’t change, it’s still HON. But we are a new company, so it’s important to recognize the change and celebrate that,” Kapur told the Observer.
Honeywell plans to grow its local team based on business expansion, alongside major U.S. hubs in Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston.
Thursday’s ceremony followed Honeywell Aerospace CEO Jim Currier ringing the Nasdaq opening bell in late June, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Honeywell Aerospace technology is built into roughly 90% of commercial aircraft and 80% of satellites currently in orbit, according to Nasdaq President Nelson Griggs. Under the separation agreement, shareholders of record as of June 15 received one share of Honeywell Aerospace for every two Honeywell Technologies shares owned.
Honeywell in 2018 first announced it would move its corporate headquarters from New Jersey to Charlotte, citing the region’s business climate, central location, and growing pool of engineering and tech talent. The headquarters opened in 2019.
With the relocation, the company pledged to create 750 jobs in Mecklenburg County and invest about $248 million by 2023. Honeywell has since exceeded that target, currently employing more than 1,100 local workers.
Honeywell’s local investment continues, including a $10 million partnership with UNC Charlotte announced in September 2025. The funding will convert Burson Hall into the Honeywell Innovation Lab, a 155,000-square-foot applied research and STEM education facility expected to open in 2027.
The partnership aims to build the region’s talent pipeline by funding 48 Honeywell Scholars over the next decade, creating four endowed faculty positions, and offering students opportunities to work directly with Honeywell engineers on real-world automation projects.
The next phase will support academic curriculum and programming, including executive lectures from Honeywell leaders and innovation internships within the UNC Charlotte Belk College of Business. That expanded programming is set to begin next month with a student event built around a case study of the company’s multi-year transition to Honeywell Technologies.
Honeywell Technologies currently has more than 50,000 employees worldwide. Much of its executive leadership team is based in Charlotte.
Read more Charlotte teens shooting into property accidentally shot friend in head, report says
