Wrigley Company
The Wrigley Company [ ðɘ ɹɪglɪ kʌmpənɪ ] is the world's largest manufacturer of chewing gum.
The company was founded on April 1, 1891 by William Wrigley Jr. in Chicago as Wm Wrigley Jr. Company, where it is headquartered today, and originally produced soap and baking soda.
History
Initially, the company put the soap in a packet of baking powder, which promote sales impacted as customers bought the soap because of the supplement. So you got into the business of baking soda and again put two sticks of gum in each pack. Again, the supplement appeared to promote sales, so one again joined the business and in 1893 went into the chewing gum production. The company launched the selling chewing gum brand Wrigley today 's Spearmint on the market. This is in addition to Juicy Fruit chewing gum the oldest places.
1915, the company sent out to everyone who was in the United States in the phone book, four sticks of gum. In total, 1.5 million people were supplied with these free product samples. Four years later the action was repeated. At this time there were already more than seven million phone owners and many product samples were accordingly sent.
1920, the foundation stone was laid for the company's headquarters, which is a landmark of the city of Chicago is today: The Wrigley Building. When William Wrigley died in 1932, his son took over the company.
In 1955 the company established a German subsidiary, as the chewing gum in West Germany had become known by the American soldiers stationed there.
Today manufactures Wrigley chewing gum alongside sweets and chewing gum base for other providers. The company, which has been realized in 2005 more than four billion dollars, employs approximately 14,800 employees. In October 2006, William Perez 's first chief executive officer of the company, which does not come from the ranks of the Wrigley family. His predecessor, Bill Wrigley joined the Supervisory Board.
The seat of the company's German office is located in Unterhaching near Munich.
Acquisition by Mars
The American Mars Incorporated took over Wrigley on October 6, 2008, along with the out by Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway. The consortium of Mars, Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan paid $ 23 billion for the takeover. This represents a purchase price of $ 80 per share. At the time of acquisition Wrigley had a market value of approximately $ 17.3 billion.
Chewing gum brands
Wrigley's chewing gum into his range following brands:
- 5 Gum
- Airwaves
- Altoids
- Aqua Drops
- Big Red
- Doublemint
- Extra
- Hubba Bubba
- Juicy Fruit
- Lockets
- Orbit
- Starburst
- Wrigley 's Spearmint
- Skittles (no chewing gum in the classic sense, but a Kaudragee with sugar coating, comparable with Fruity Smarties )
Moreover led Wrigley's products:
- Wrigley's Eclipse Flash (no chewing gum, but wafer-thin flakes with fresh flavors that have quickly dissolved upon contact with moisture )
Juicy Fruit
Juicy Fruit is available on the U.S. market since 1893, since 1950 also in Germany. It is one of the oldest products of Wrigley. With time, however taste and packaging were changed again and again. There are in addition to the normal taste the varieties Squish, Blueberry, Strappelberry, Wintergreen, Squish Squish Straw Line and Malberry.