General Mills: brands it owns and its ownership tree
General Mills (NYSE: GIS) is a publicly listed company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States that owns 18 consumer brands across 2 categories, and has 3 recorded transactions.[1]
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 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.
General Mills acquired Annie's for about $820 million, buying an organic food company whose rabbit logo and pasta shapes had been built in deliberate opposition to the packaged food industry that bought it.
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.