Häagen-Dazs is owned by General Mills (the United States, NYSE: GIS), which acquired the brand on 31 October 2001 from Diageo, as part of a $10.5 billion deal that also included Pillsbury and Old El Paso.[1][2] Before General Mills, Häagen-Dazs was owned by Diageo from 1989 to 2001.[2]
Evidence: General Mills, Inc. Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-07-01, SEC EDGAR, 1 July 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Häagen-Dazs was created in the Bronx in 1960 by Reuben Mattus, who invented a Danish-sounding name because he believed it would signal quality to American shoppers; the words mean nothing in any language. General Mills owns the trademark and sells the ice cream itself outside North America, including through a joint venture in Japan; in the United States and Canada it licenses the name, exclusively and royalty-free, to Nestlé.
The USPTO record for the Häagen-Dazs mark lists HDIP, INC. as the owner of record (serial number 73505854). 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, 17 of them in food.
The 72 brands in ice cream on Brandtree belong to 32 owners. The largest is The Magnum Ice Cream Company, with 14.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| Ben & Jerry's | The Magnum Ice Cream Company | 🇳🇱 Netherlands |
| Bravo Cone | Binggrae | 🇰🇷 South Korea |
| Drumstick | Froneri | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Dippin' Dots | J&J Snack Foods | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Deluxe | Mengniu | 🇨🇳 China |
| Choco Monaka Jumbo | Morinaga | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| Gala | Paradise Foods | 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea |
| Ice Vegas | Poulina | 🇹🇳 Tunisia |
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; Häagen-Dazs is not one of them.
General Mills bought Pillsbury from Diageo, roughly doubling its size. The Federal Trade Commission required the divestiture of Pillsbury's dessert and specialty products business to International Multifoods before clearing the deal.
The parent company of Häagen-Dazs is General Mills, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
No. Häagen-Dazs is owned by General Mills, not Nestlé.
Yes. Häagen-Dazs originated in the United States in 1960 and its owner, General Mills, is also headquartered in the United States.
General Mills completed its acquisition of Häagen-Dazs on 31 October 2001, after announcing the deal on 17 July 2000. The deal, which also included Pillsbury and Old El Paso, was valued at $10.5 billion (enterprise value).
Before General Mills, Häagen-Dazs was owned by Diageo from 1989 until 2001.
Yes. As of 4 October 2026, Häagen-Dazs 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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