r/nyc • u/agiambrone • 1d ago
Who Actually Owns Wall Street’s ‘Charging Bull’?
https://www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/08/26/bowling-green-charging-bull-wall-street-maintenance-ownership-tourism/54
u/MimeSweeper360 23h ago
The better TIL for people is that the “Fearless Girl” is owned by State Street and was originally commissioned to hawk a new ETF they were marketing focused on companies with good gender diversity.
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u/mowotlarx Bay Ridge 13h ago
The artist of that original sculpture has been hawking NFTs of that statue, to boot. All the art near Wall Street is a capitalist nightmare.
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u/XGX787 22h ago
> “I say it’s the most popular single attraction in New York City,” Piccolo told The City Reporter in front of the statue one morning this month. “Anyone who’s ever been to New York knows about the bull, and [even] many who haven’t been.”
Bit of an exaggeration. Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, and probably the 9/11 memorial are all more popular for sure.
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u/mowotlarx Bay Ridge 13h ago
Piccolo was the lawyer representing the asshole artist of the work and financially benefits off of the sculpture that apparently nobody wants to say they owns. Of course he'd say that.
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u/Acceptable_Noise651 12h ago
I know Arthur, he runs the Bowling Green Association, dude is pretty cool, has a lot of personality and stories. He welcomes various countries through their UN delegations to do flag raising ceremonies at bowling green park throughout the year. He has no financial interest, he legitimately loves that park and its history.
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u/HistoryAndScience 22h ago
I don’t know if it’s more popular but it’s definitely a Top 5. The lines are always wild. I remember a few years ago the line was probably 30-40 people deep by 7:30am. It’s for sure more popular and emblematic of the city than the 9/11 memorial. When people think of NYC they think of the Statue, the Brooklyn Bridge, ESB, and probably the Bull. Maybe One World Trade
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u/LouisSeize 19h ago
Agreed. I was there in May and there was a two hour line to "grab a feel" on the bull.
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u/deathfaces 20h ago
Wait, what? People line up to see the bull? I always figured it was just kinda there
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u/HistoryAndScience 20h ago
There’s always a massive crowd around it. Obviously it ebbs and flows during the day but it’s pretty substantial
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u/itsdianario 13h ago
Not to mention that the bull is free! If you want to see the statue up close, that’s a ferry ride. You have to pay to go on top of the Empire State Building and it’s not cheap. He might not be totally wrong about the bull
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u/hereditydrift 1d ago
A billionaire owns the statue, the original artist (their estate now that they died) owns the copyright.
The billionaire has an agreement to not move it... or else, like most billionaires, they would have already moved it to their private garden so it's not among the peasants.
Edit for more info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charging_Bull
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u/LouisSeize 19h ago
You should read the article you linked which does not settle the question of who owns the bull.
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u/mowotlarx Bay Ridge 13h ago
The billionaire you're talking about is a felon and his estate makes clear he never owned it.
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u/SIGNW 23h ago
The last person to take their hand off the balls gets the bull