Brandtree

Who owns Cheerios?

Cheerios is owned by General Mills (the United States, NYSE: GIS).[1]

Evidence: General Mills, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-07-01, SEC EDGAR, 1 July 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .

Key facts

Current owner
General Mills, Inc. verified
Owner HQ
🇺🇸 United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Origin
🇺🇸 United States
Founded
1941
Category
Food › Breakfast cereal › Ready-to-eat cereal
Parent ticker
NYSE: GIS
Trademark registrant
General Mills IP Holdings I, LLC (USPTO)
Last verified
· 2 sources

About Cheerios

Cheerios launched in 1941 as CheeriOats, the first ready-to-eat oat cereal, made by an extrusion process that puffed the grain into a ring. The name was shortened in 1945 after a trademark objection. It is the best-selling cereal in the United States and is widely used as a first finger food for infants.

How often General Mills names Cheerios in its annual report

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.

Annual report filedTimes Cheerios is named
20262
20252
20241

Trademark record for Cheerios

The USPTO record for the Cheerios mark lists General Mills IP Holdings I, LLC as the owner of record (serial number 74070129). That name matches the owner named above.[2]

Ownership timeline of Cheerios

Owners of Cheerios over 1941 to 2026 General Mills start not recorded–present General Mills (start not recorded) 1960198020002020
  1. Current owner General Mills [1] verified

Where Cheerios sits in General Mills

Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.

Where Cheerios sits in General Mills Tree of 18 brands under General Mills. General Mills Cheerios Annie's Betty Crocker Blue Buffalo Chex Cinnamon Toast Crunch and 12 more

Open the full General Mills ownership tree →

See the full General Mills brand portfolio (18) →

Other brands owned by General Mills

General Mills controls 18 brands on Brandtree, 17 of them in food.

Also in food

All General Mills brands →

Other brands in ready-to-eat cereal, and who owns them

General Mills has more brands in ready-to-eat cereal on Brandtree than any other owner: 7 of 32.

BrandOwnerOwner based in
Froot Loops Ferrero 🇮🇹 Italy
Grape-Nuts Post Holdings 🇺🇸 United States
Crunchy Nut Mars 🇺🇸 United States
EnviroKidz Nature's Path 🇨🇦 Canada
Chocapic Nestlé 🇨🇭 Switzerland
Jordans Associated British Foods 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Frugra Calbee 🇯🇵 Japan
AXA Lantmännen 🇸🇪 Sweden

Every brand in ready-to-eat cereal and its owner →

About the owner: General Mills

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 →

🇺🇸 Cheerios and other American brands

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; Cheerios is not one of them.

All American brands and who owns them →

Frequently asked questions

Who is the parent company of Cheerios?

The parent company of Cheerios is General Mills, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.

Is Cheerios American?

Yes. Cheerios originated in the United States in 1941 and its owner, General Mills, is also headquartered in the United States.

Is Cheerios still owned by General Mills?

Yes. As of 4 October 2026, Cheerios is still owned by General Mills. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.

Sources (2) & corrections

Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.

  1. [1] General Mills, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-07-01 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 10-K, published 1 July 2026; retrieved 16 September 2026.
  2. [2] USPTO: CHEERIOS, serial 74070129 — United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark registry; retrieved 4 October 2026.

Report a correction Opens a pre-filled GitHub issue. See our corrections policy.

Related

Explainers