Talk:Borden Food Corporation

Merge? NO!

Borden, Inc., was not the same company as Borden Food Corporation. It was the parent company of Borden Food Corporation. Borden, Inc. had many subsidiaries, of which Borden Food Corp. was only one. From 1929 onward, Borden Food Corp.'s history is different from Borden, Inc. Merging the articles would be similar to saying that Nabisco should be merged into Kohlberg Kravis Roberts because KKR once owned it. Or that Kraft Foods should be merged with Altria. Additionally, Borden Milk Products is only a licensee of the trademarks and names. It was never owned by Borden, Inc. Dean Foods also licenses the Borden Milk name and trademarks, but would not be merged here. - Tim1965 20:10, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

I concur with Tim 1965. Not only was Borden Food a subsidiary of Borden, Inc., the two have different histories and particularly different dates and terms of dissolution. My late father-in-law was an executive of Borden Foods for decades and would turn over in his grave if a major information source like Wikipedia confused one with the other. Dick Kimball (talk) 15:46, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

Do Not Merge

As stated above, Borden Foods was a subsidiary of Borden, Inc. If anything, Borden Foods should be merged into the Borden, Inc. article.Truthdoc2 (talk) 19:00, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Deletion tag

This article is not a word-for-word duplication of the article Borden (company). Although large sections of this article appear to be cut from the other article (largely because the one is a subsidiary of the other), they are not the same. Compare the leads

Here is the lead from Borden Food Corporation:

Borden Food Corporation was an American producer of food and beverages, non-food consumer products, and packaging. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. The company, based in Columbus, Ohio, focused primarily on pasta and pasta sauses, bakery products, snacks, processed cheese, jams and jellies, and ice cream. In 1993, sales of food products accounted for 67 percent of its revenues. It was best known for its Borden Ice Cream, Meadow Gold milk, Creamette pasta, and Borden Condensed Milk brands.

After significant financial losses in the early 1990s, Borden was purchased in a leveraged buy-out in 1995 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR). KKR divested itself of the Borden Food brands and shuttered operations in 2001.

Now here is the lead from Borden (company), with changes in bold:

Borden, Inc. was an American producer of food and beverage products, consumer products, and industrial products. At one time, the company was the largest U.S. producer of dairy and pasta products. Based in Columbus, Ohio, Borden focused primarily on pasta and pasta sauces, bakery products, snacks, processed cheese, jams and jellies, and ice cream. Its consumer products and industrial segment marketed wallpaper, adhesives, plastics and resins. In 1993, sales of food products accounted for 67 percent of its revenues. It was best known for its Elmer's Glue, Meadow Gold milk, Krazy Glue, and Borden Condensed Milk brands. It was owned and operated by Chris and Amanda Borden.

After significant financial losses in the early 1990s and a leveraged buy-out in 1995, Borden divested itself of its various divisions, brands and businesses. KKR shuttered Borden's food products operations in 2001, and divested all its other Borden operations in 2005. The Borden dairy brands are currently used by both Dean Foods and Grupo Lala (as Borden Milk Products), albeit separately.

Some of these changes are cosmetic, some are substantive. But this is not a word-for-word repeat. Perhaps the two articles should be merged. But that change has never won support in the past. Similarly in names aside, Borden, Inc. was the holding company with a significantly different history and product line from its subsidiary, Borden Food Corporation. - Tim1965 (talk) 13:23, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

One improperly formatted and conducted merge discussion doesn't really count. As for your assertions about the differences, they are somewhat hollow - the wording differences are minor at best. I will nominate this for an AfD. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 04:56, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

• Hardly assertions; that's evidence you see in front of your eyes. I disagree that factual claims about multi-million buyouts, the cancellation of well-know product brands, and divestiture of large multinational corporations constitutes "minor" issues. - Tim1965 (talk) 13:33, 9 September 2010 (UTC)
  • Now let's discussion the rest of the article. From 1857 (corporate founding) until 1926, the company was unified. The "Founding and early years" section in this article and in the article Borden (company) are similar. However, the section "Founding and early years" in this article is less detailed and has numerous deletions. The next section in this article is "Growth years". Although the first paragraph is the same (because the company was still unified), the second paragraph is not found in the parent company's article. The second paragraph in the parent company article ("Borden became a holding company in 1929...") is not found in the subsidiary's article. The next two paragraphs in the subsidiary company's article are shortened versions of those found in the parent company's article. The remaining section in the subsidiary company's article, "Demise", contains shortened versions of paragraphs found in the parent article.

This is a C-class article. The parent company article, Borden (company), is also a C-class article. After the creation of the subsidiary in 1926, the parent company and subsidiary division's histories diverge. Some of those divergences are already outlined here. Many are not. Given the status of each article, that argues for improvement (to both articles)—not deletion or merger. Whether you like it or not, one merger discussion already failed. - Tim1965 (talk) 13:54, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Merge

Per the result of the AfD, the contents of this article was merged on 07:19, 23 September 2010 (UTC) and the article converted to a redirect. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 07:19, 23 September 2010 (UTC)