Blue Buffalo is owned by General Mills (the United States, NYSE: GIS), which acquired the brand on 24 April 2018 for $8 billion.[1][2] Blue Buffalo was founded in 2003 in the United States and was independent until 2018.
Evidence: General Mills, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-07-01, SEC EDGAR, 1 July 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Blue Buffalo was founded in 2003 by a family whose dog developed cancer, and it built its business on advertising that compared its ingredient lists directly against mainstream brands. General Mills bought it in 2018 for $8 billion, its entry into pet food and its largest acquisition.
Sentences about Blue Buffalo from General Mills's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Our Blue Buffalo and Progresso brands had risk of decreasing coverage and we continue to monitor these businesses.
In addition, while having significant coverage as of our May 31, 2026 , assessment date, the Blue Buffalo brand intangible asset had risk of decreasing coverage due to the increase in our discount rates.
In addition, while having significant coverage as of our May 31, 2026 assessment date, the Blue Buffalo brand intangible asset had risk of decreasing coverage due to the increase in our discount rates .
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named more often than it was three years earlier.
The USPTO record for the Blue Buffalo mark lists BLUE BUFFALO ENTERPRISES, INC. as the owner of record (serial number 85613436). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.[3]
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full General Mills ownership tree →
See the full General Mills brand portfolio (18) →
General Mills controls 18 brands on Brandtree.
The 36 brands in dog food on Brandtree belong to 17 owners. The largest is VAFO, with 8.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Brit | VAFO | 🇨🇿 Czech Republic |
| Cesar | Mars | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Club 4 Paws | Kormotech | 🇺🇦 Ukraine |
| Bobtail | RCL FOODS | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
| American Journey | Chewy | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Sojos | WellPet | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Master Dog | Carozzi | 🇨🇱 Chile |
| Hill's Pet Nutrition | Colgate-Palmolive | 🇺🇸 United States |
General Mills is a publicly listed company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, founded in 1856. Brandtree records 18 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: GIS.
General Mills grew out of Minneapolis flour milling in the nineteenth century and incorporated under its present name in 1928. Cereal, snack bars, yoghurt and pet food are its largest businesses, and it holds Häagen-Dazs in North America.
General Mills: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,549 brands that began in the United States. 478 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Blue Buffalo is not one of them.
General Mills acquired Blue Buffalo for about $8 billion, its largest acquisition. Pet food had been growing while packaged human food stagnated, and Blue Buffalo sold on named whole ingredients rather than meat meals, largely through pet specialty retailers.
The parent company of Blue Buffalo is General Mills, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Yes. Blue Buffalo originated in the United States in 2003 and its owner, General Mills, is also headquartered in the United States.
General Mills completed its acquisition of Blue Buffalo on 24 April 2018, after announcing the deal on 23 February 2018. The deal was valued at $8 billion (enterprise value).
Blue Buffalo was an independent company from its founding in 2003 until General Mills acquired it in 2018.
Yes. As of 10 October 2026, Blue Buffalo is still owned by General Mills. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
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