An iconic American cereal becomes Italian, as Ferrero purchases WK Kellogg for $3.1 billion, marking the group’s debut in a new product category for a billion-dollar-a-year market. In the ownership transfer, the Piedmont-born giant offered $23 per share in cash, a 40 percent premium to the average price over the past four weeks. Finally, the American company promised to exit Wall Street.
The acquisition of WK Kellogg “is part of Ferrero’s strategic growth plan and expands the company’s reach into multiple consumer occasions with well-known and beloved brands and strong consumer relevance,” the statement said. In North America, the Piedmont-based giant already has more than 14,000 employees spread across 22 manufacturing plants and 11 administrative offices. With this transaction, Ferrero will be responsible for relaunching the production and marketing of its entire cereal portfolio—from Froot Loops to Frosted Flakes, to Rice Krispies, to Special K—in the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean, which has been declining for a couple of years due to changing eating habits.
“This is more than just an acquisition. It represents the union of two companies, both with a glorious tradition and generations of loyal consumers,” commented Giovanni Ferrero, executive chairman of the group.
Ferrero is a behemoth in the confectionery industry, with annual sales of about $21.5 billion (last year it posted 9 percent growth) and a product portfolio ranging from Italian snacks like Nutella, Kinder, Tic Tac and Ferrero Rocher; to American offerings like Butterfinger, Keebler and Famous Amos; as well as frozen foods such as Blue Bunny, Bomb Pop and Halo Top. In recent years, the Piedmont-based company has focused on U.S. expansion by targeting well-known brands seeking rebranding, as in the case of WK Kellogg. The original company was founded in 1894 in Michigan and, over time, has repeatedly been recognized as the inventor of breakfast cereals. Today, the brand acquired by Ferrero has a value of $1.5 billion and $500 million of debt, and was born in 2023 as a result of a split, in which the snacks department was sold to Mars for $35 billion.
