Hostess, a food brand from the United States, is owned by J.M. Smucker (the United States, NYSE: SJM), which acquired the brand on 7 November 2023 from Hostess Brands, as part of a $5.6 billion deal that also included Twinkies.[1][2] Before J.M. Smucker, Hostess was owned by Hostess Brands from 2013 to 2023.[2]
Evidence: The J. M. Smucker Company Annual Report on Form 10-K filed 2026-06-09, SEC EDGAR, 9 June 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Hostess makes Twinkies, CupCakes, Ding Dongs and Donettes, and its 2012 liquidation briefly removed Twinkies from American shelves before private equity buyers restarted production. Smucker acquired the company in 2023 for $5.6 billion.
Sentences about Hostess from J.M. Smucker's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
On November 7, 2023, we completed a cash and stock transaction to acquire Hostess Brands, Inc. ("Hostess Brands"), a manufacturer and marketer of sweet baked goods brands and included Hostess Donettes , Twinkies , CupCakes , DingDongs , Zingers , CoffeeCakes , HoHos , Mini Muffins , and Fruit Pies , and the Voortman cookie brand at the acquisition date.
Specifically, we may not realize all of the anticipated benefits of the acquisition of Hostess Brands, or those benefits may take longer to realize than expected.
In particular, the anticipated benefits of our acquisition of Hostess Brands depend in part on our ability to maintain operational stability and continue executing ongoing optimization initiatives.
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 less often than it was three years earlier.
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full J.M. Smucker ownership tree →
See the full J.M. Smucker brand portfolio (9) →
J.M. Smucker controls 9 brands on Brandtree, 5 of them in food.
The 50 brands in cakes on Brandtree belong to 34 owners. The largest is Edita, with 5; J.M. Smucker has 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| HoHos (Middle East and North Africa) | Edita | 🇪🇬 Egypt |
| Lotus | Lotus Bakeries | 🇧🇪 Belgium |
| Crossini | Rebisco | 🇵🇭 Philippines |
| Balconi | Valeo Foods | 🇮🇪 Ireland |
| Mademoiselle Desserts | Emmi | 🇨🇭 Switzerland |
| Eti Browni | Eti | 🇹🇷 Turkey |
| Entenmann's | Grupo Bimbo | 🇲🇽 Mexico |
| Dankek | Ülker Bisküvi | 🇹🇷 Turkey |
J.M. Smucker is a publicly listed company headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, United States, founded in 1897. Brandtree records 9 brands under its control, and it is listed as NYSE: SJM.
J.M. Smucker was founded in 1897 in Orrville, Ohio, where Jerome Smucker pressed cider and made apple butter, selling it from a wagon with his signature on each lid as a guarantee. It is now built on three legs: coffee, pet food and consumer spreads, and the family still holds significant voting power.
J.M. Smucker: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,550 brands that began in the United States. 479 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country; Hostess is not one of them.
J.M. Smucker acquired Hostess Brands for $34.25 per share in cash and stock, adding Twinkies, CupCakes and Donettes to a portfolio built on coffee, peanut butter and pet snacks. Smucker outbid several other packaged food companies for the business.
1 recall notice from government regulators matched to Hostess. Each applies to the specific products, sizes and lot codes named in the notice, not to every product sold under the name.
Reason given: Mold. The firm noticed an increase in customer complaints. They conducted a root cause investigation and discovered that one of their coolers had malfunctioning.
Recalling firm: The J.M. Smucker Company
Matched automatically from FDA, USDA FSIS, UK Food Standards Agency and CPSC records only when the recalling firm corresponds to this ownership record and, for a brand, the brand name appears in the product description. Check the linked notice for exact products and lots. Method.
The parent company of Hostess is J.M. Smucker, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United States.
Yes. Hostess originated in the United States in 1919 and its owner, J.M. Smucker, is also headquartered in the United States.
J.M. Smucker completed its acquisition of Hostess on 7 November 2023, after announcing the deal on 11 September 2023. The deal, which also included Twinkies, was valued at $5.6 billion (enterprise value).
Before J.M. Smucker, Hostess was owned by Hostess Brands from 2013 until 2023.
Yes. As of 9 October 2026, Hostess is still owned by J.M. Smucker. 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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