diff --git a/android/androidmk.go b/android/androidmk.go
index b81cc2a61..dabefcca4 100644
--- a/android/androidmk.go
+++ b/android/androidmk.go
@@ -246,8 +246,8 @@ func translateAndroidMkModule(ctx blueprint.SingletonContext, w io.Writer, mod b
 		if amod.commonProperties.Vendor {
 			fmt.Fprintln(w, "LOCAL_VENDOR_MODULE := true")
 		}
-		if amod.commonProperties.Owner != "" {
-			fmt.Fprintln(w, "LOCAL_MODULE_OWNER :=", amod.commonProperties.Owner)
+		if amod.commonProperties.Owner != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintln(w, "LOCAL_MODULE_OWNER :=", *amod.commonProperties.Owner)
 		}
 	}
 
diff --git a/android/module.go b/android/module.go
index fcb5aeefe..3a3d1735a 100644
--- a/android/module.go
+++ b/android/module.go
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ type commonProperties struct {
 	Proprietary bool
 
 	// vendor who owns this module
-	Owner string
+	Owner *string
 
 	// whether this module is device specific and should be installed into /vendor
 	Vendor bool