🠈  General Mills  🠊

General Mills

General Mills is a Minneapolis based company that manufactures many popular food brands. They trade on the NYSE with the symbol GIS.

Corporate History

The company has engaged in numerous mergers including its mega merger with Pillsbury. I will present the mergers in a nested loop structure. I drew the base of the article by combing the data on wikipedia and Funding Universe. References 1,2,3,4, and will add enhancements.

• 1856: Cadwallader C. Washburn and Illinois Congressman Robert Smith leased rights to mills on the West sideo of St Anthony Falls River.
• 1866: Washburn opened a huge mill in Minneapolis creating Minneapolis Milling Company.
• 1877: John Crosby joned firm which then took the name Washburn Crosby Company.
• 1878: "A" mill suffered a dust explosion that took the lives of 18 workers.
• 1880: The flour won gold, silver and bronze medals at the Millers' International Exhibition in Cincinnati. This led to the Gold Metal brand.
• 1888: James S. Bell takes over leadership of Washburn Crosby.
• 1921: The company created a fictional character named Betty Crocker.
• 1924: Company created WLAG radio station in the Twin Cities and renaned it WCCO after the Washburn-Crosby Company.
• 1921: A clinician accidentally spilled a wheat bran mixture on a hot stove.
  • 1924: Washburn-Crosby introduced the accident as Washburn's Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes. They shortened the name to Wheaties.
• 1928: James Ford created General Mills (GM) by merging Washburn Crosby with other regional millers.
• 1928: GM acquired the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company from industrialist Frank Kell of Wichita Falls, Texas.
• 1931: GM introduced Bisquick in the Betty Mills line.
• 1941: GM introduced Cheerioats ready-to-eat cereal. They shortened the name to Cheerios in 1945.
• 1946: GM created the Aeronautical Research Division with chief engineer Otto C. Winzen to develop high altitude balloons for the United States Navy Office of Naval Research.
• 1947: Company introduced Betty Crocker cake mixes.
• 19??: The General Mills Electronics division began to develop the Deep Sea Vehicle named DSV Alvin⁵.
• 1954: GM introduced the presweetened brand Trix.
• 1964: GM acquired snack food producer Morton Foods.
• 1965. GM acquired Rainbow Crafts which manufactured Play-Doh.
• 1968: GM acquired Gorton's which sold frozen sea food.
• 1968: GM acquired Parker Brother's which made games including Monopoly, Rook, Sorry!, Risk and more.
• 1969: GM bought Lacoste which makes clothing and Monet Jewelry.
• 1970: GM acquired Red Lobster which had 5 restaurants from Bill Darden. They hired Darden as the restaurant group manager.
• 1971: GM acquired Specialty Retail Group which held the brands Eddie Bauer and Talbot's
• 1980: GM acquired the Good Earth restaurant chain.
• 1982: GM created a chain called Olive Garden.
• 1985: GM lost a Supreme Case against the makers of the board game Anti-Monopoly. While they had a monopoly on the brand "monopoly" the did not have exclusive rights to all uses of the term.
• 1985: GM spun off Kenner Parker Toys, Inc..
• 1990: GM created a chain called China Coast.
• 1990: GM and Nestlé S.A. formed partnership that allows Nestlé to produce GM brands outside the US.
• 1995: GM spun off its restaurant division as Darden Restaurants.
• 2001: GM acquired Pillsbury from a British conglomerate called Diageo.

  History of Pillsbury

  Like General Mills, Pillsbury was a conglomerate that started with a flour mill in Minnesota. The merger is complicated as Pillsbury was acquired by GrandMet which became Diageo before the General Mills acquisition.

  • 1869: Charles A. Pillsbury purchased a third share of a flour mill in Minnesota.
  • 1872: Company registered the trademark Pillsbury's Best XXXX
  • 1889: A British firm acquired Pillsbury's five mills on the Mississippi along with properties from Washburn.
  • 1923: the Pillsbury bought out its English partners and reaquired The Pillsbury-Washburn Flour Mills Company.
  • 1935: The company incorporated as Pillsbury Flour Mills Company.
  • 1949: Pillsbury started the Pillsbury Bake Off Competition.
  • 1951: Pillsbury acquired Ballard & Ballard Company which makes frozen foods.
  • 1959: Pillsbury began purchasing flour mills abroad including units in Venezuela, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ghana, the Philippines, and Trinidad.
  • 1960: Pillsbury acquired Tidy House Products.
  • 1965: Rudy Perz of the Leo Burnett ad agency dreamt up a doughboy poppin' up fresh from a package of Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. This character, "Jonathan Pillsbury," is known far-and-wide as the Pillsbury Doughboy.
  • 1967: Pillsbury acquired the Burger King restaurant chain.
  • 1976: Pillsbury acquired the restaurant chain Stake & Ale and hired the chain's creator, Norman Brinker as head of the restaurant division.
  • 1976: Pillsbury started an Irish-pub themed chain called Bennigan's with first restaurant in Atlanta.
  • 1979: Pillsbury acquired Green Giant.
  • 1979: Pillsbury acquired Totino's Finer Foods.
  • 1983: Pillsbury acquired HäagenDazs.
  • 1984: Pillsbury acquired restaurant holder Diversifoods Inc. (which owned Godfather's Pizza) and QuikWok Inc..
    • 1988: Herman Cain and investors bought Godfather's for about $100 million.
  • 1986: Norman Brinker left Pillsbury and bought a new chain restaurant called Chili's.
  • 1989: A British conglomerate called Grand Metropolitan acquired Pillsbury for $66 per share.
  • 1992: GrandMet/Pillsbury acquired McGlynn Bakeries which made frozen foods.
  • 1997: GrandMet merged with Guinness plc to form Diageo.
• 2011: GM switched to cage free eggs. They consume a million eggs a year.
• 2014: GM acquired Annie’s Inc., which makes whole foods, for about $820 million.
• 2018: GM acquired Blue Buffalo Pet Products, Inc. for $8 billion.

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References:

1. Wikipedia - General Mills (Drawn 10/12/2019)
2. Funding Universe - General Mills (Drawn 10/12/2019)
3. Wikipedia - Pillsbury (Drawn 10/12/2019)
4. Funding Universe - Pillsbury (Drawn 10/12/2019)
5. Wikipedia - DSV Alvin (Drawn 10/12/2019)

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