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Wrigley Company

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William Wrigley Jr. Company
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryFood processing
FoundedChicago, Illinois, U.S. (1891)
Headquarters410 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Key people
William Wrigley, Jr. II, Chairman
William Perez, CEO
ProductsJuicy Fruit, Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, more...
RevenueIncrease$5.389 billion USD (2007)
Increase$6.32 million USD (2007)
Number of employees
16,000
ParentMars, Incorporated
Websitewww.wrigley.com

The William Wrigley Jr. Company was founded on April 1, 1891 originally selling products such as soap and baking powder. In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began offering chewing gum with each can of baking powder. The chewing gum eventually became more popular than the baking powder itself and Wrigley's reoriented the company to produce the popular chewing gum.

The company currently sells its products in more than 180 countries and maintains 14 factories in various countries, including the United States, Serbia, Mexico, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, the Philippines, France, Kenya, Taiwan, China, India, Poland, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia.

In 2004, Wrigley purchased the Life Savers and Altoids businesses from Kraft Foods for US$1.48 billion. On January 23, 2007, Wrigley signed a purchase agreement to acquire an 80 percent initial interest in A. Korkunov for $300 million with the remaining 20 percent to be acquired over time. On April 28, 2008, it was announced that Berkshire Hathaway and Mars, Incorporated would acquire Wrigley for approximately $23 billion.[1]

The corporate headquarters, the Wrigley Building is a well-known landmark on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Corporate leadership

On October 23, 2006, William D. Perez succeeded Bill Wrigley Jr. as CEO. He is the first person outside the Wrigley family to head the 114-year-old company. Bill Wrigley Jr. retained the post of executive chairman.

CEO line:

Recent changes in gum

In June 1974, Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio installed the first bar code scanning equipment. The first product to be scanned using a UPC bar code was a 10 pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. This pack of gum is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

In 2004, Wrigley replaced part of the sugar content in most of their gum brands with aspartame, the change remains controversial with consumers who dislike the aftertaste of aspartame.

In some countries, xylitol, another sugar substitute, is used. In many counties, xylitol was promoted as a teeth protection agent whereas in fact it is only a sugar replacement. By removing the sugar, the chance of tooth decay is lowered, since the sugar otherwise used usually turns into acid after chewing the gum. And in chewing, it may help to remove food residues. The company promote the gum as a teeth protecting product accredited by dentists, but this statement is misleading, if not deceiving. Xylitol based products are allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make the medical claim that they do not promote dental cavities[2]. Nevertheless, the company promotes its products differently where the laws are not as strict.

In 2004, after years of having a pack of Wrigley's gum cost 25 cents, the company changed the price to 30 cents, In 2008 the company again changed the price to 35 cents. However, in Canada, the pricing changed to 45 cents.

Subsidiaries

  • The Wrigley Company Limited
  • Amurol Confections Company
  • Northwestern Flavors, LLC

Brands

Gum (United States)

Gum (Canada)

Gum (made by The Wrigley Company Ltd., Estover, Plymouth, UK)

Products

See also

References

  1. ^ ""Mars, Buffett Team Up in Wrigley Bid"". Wall Street Journal. 2008-04-27. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
  2. ^ http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cdrh/cfdocs/cfcfr/CFRSearch.cfm?fr=101.80

Data

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