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89-475: PET anticipated this change and starting in the 1950s became a multi-brand food products conglomerate through a series of acquisitions. This gave it ownership of consumer brands like Old El Paso Mexican foods, Progresso soups, Whitman's chocolates, Underwood canned meats, and others. Pet was a subsidiary of multi-industry conglomerate IC Industries between 1978 and 1991 when it once again became independent. Pet ceased independent operations in 1995 when it

178-429: A market inefficiency , which undervalues the true strength of these stocks. In her 1999 book No Logo , Naomi Klein provides several examples of mergers and acquisitions between media companies designed to create conglomerates to create synergy between them: A relatively new development, Internet conglomerates, such as Alphabet , Google's parent company belong to the modern media conglomerate group and play

267-608: A "Tin Cow". To fulfill these large government orders, Helvetia built a second plant in Greenville, Illinois and bought and converted a limburger cheese factory in New Glarus, Wisconsin to milk production in 1910. By 1918, it was operating 10 production facilities across the US Midwest, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. Many of these were closed after World War I as government orders tapered off and as

356-458: A "baby-sized" can that could be sold for a nickel. Helvetia registered "Our PET" as a trademark in 1895 and by 1907 it had eclipsed the Highland and Economy brands to become the company's best seller. Just after the turn of the century, disputes between Latzer and Wildi on the direction of the company began to become more prominent. By 1906, they were two of only three stockholders in the company with

445-530: A Canadian Italian foods marketer. Prepared salad maker Orval Kent Food Company, Inc. was Pet's next acquisition in 1988. Pet then bought Van de Kamp's frozen seafood from Pillsbury in 1989 and specialty meat producer Coorsh and Bittner was acquired by Pet's Canadian subsidiary. Pet's parent company ICI changed its name to Whitman Corp. in 1988 and sold its railroad and defense units to focus on food products. A few years later, in 1991, Whitman spun-off Pet, Inc. to once again operate as an independent company. By

534-475: A Canadian subsidiary. Gamble was elected president in 1959 and Robert Latzer became chairman. Pet created the Mary Lee Taylor Ice Milk brand in 1959 and in 1960 Pet's Canadian subsidiary acquired Canadian cheese company Old Cherry Hill Cheese House for over US$ 1 million . Also in 1959, Pet created another frozen pie brand, Swiss Miss. By 1960, it also had significant international operations through

623-427: A better alternative to sweetened condensed milk which had previously been one of the only alternatives to breastfeeding. Sales began to slow in the 1890s, however, with competing products entering the market. In response, Wildi convinced the company to launch the "Economy" brand which sold alongside their Highland brand. The "Our Pet Evaporated Cream" brand was introduced when a New Orleans food broker asked Helvetia for

712-403: A breeding farm, named Carnation Farm, where the application of new principles of husbandry continually improved the productivity of the herd. Carnation cows held the world milk production record for 32 consecutive years. One cow in particular, Segis Pietertje Prospect, produced 37,381 pints of milk during 1920, and a statue of the cow was erected to honor this record. The town of Tolt, Washington ,

801-1018: A controlling interest in American Refrigeration Products S.A., a Mexican company in the process of expanding to Guatemala which had been partially owned by Hussmann. Continuing with its expansion strategy, Pet bought Aunt Fanny's Bakery in Atlanta in 1966 and in 1967 Schrafft's restaurants for US$ 14 million . Mountain Pass Canning Company was Pet's next acquisition, buying the Texas-based company in 1968. With Mountain Pass came its Old El Paso brand of Mexican food. Around this time, Pet sold its portion of General Milk Co., receiving US$ 30.8 million more than its initial investment of US$ 875,000 . Pet further diversified its product lines in October 1968 buying

890-734: A day. But, on July 8, 1885, the steam-powered sterilizer exploded and the company ceased operations for a month for repairs. Production restarted in August 1885 and by the end of the year, Helvetia's evaporated milk was beginning to gain recognition in the Southern US. Its reputation was boosted after it donated 10 cases to victims of a fire in Galveston, Texas , and a grocer in El Paso, Texas , ordered 100 cases after crediting it with helping to bring his sick infant back to health. However, throughout its first year

979-480: A disorienting and demoralizing experience for executives at acquired companies—those who were not immediately laid off found themselves at the mercy of the conglomerate's executives in some other distant city. Most conglomerates' headquarters were located on the West Coast or East Coast , while many of their acquisitions were located in the country's interior. Many interior cities were devastated by repeatedly losing

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1068-450: A display of cigars around a sign with the name: Carnation. His own firm subsequently adopted the name Carnation Evaporated Milk Company . One of the most important things Stuart had learned on his father's farm was that high-quality milk came from healthy cows; so to ensure premium standards, he distributed pure bred bulls to the farmers supplying the factory, whose offspring were selected for milk productivity. Eventually, Stuart established

1157-540: A focus in Asia.) In Japan, a different model of conglomerate, the keiretsu , evolved. Whereas the Western model of conglomerate consists of a single corporation with multiple subsidiaries controlled by that corporation, the companies in a keiretsu are linked by interlocking shareholdings and a central role of a bank. Mitsui , Mitsubishi , Sumitomo are some of Japan's best-known keiretsu, reaching from automobile manufacturing to

1246-487: A major role within various industries, such as brand management . In most cases, Internet conglomerates consist of corporations that own several medium-sized online or hybrid online-offline projects. In many cases, newly joined corporations get higher returns on investment , access to business contacts, and better rates on loans from various banks. Similar to other industries many companies can be termed as conglomerates. Carnation Evaporated Milk Carnation

1335-523: A result the company was no longer able to supply buyers in the Western US. In 1919, Pet formed a joint venture with Carnation, General Milk Co., for the purpose of expanding internationally. Pet's share of the venture cost US$ 875,000 . The company's Highland plant was closed temporarily in 1920 when local farmers went on strike. During a strike in St. Louis, Latzer had sold Helvetia's excess supplies to businessmen in

1424-813: A series of meetings with John Wildi, Dr. John Knoebel, and Adolph Glock. On February 14, 1885, they founded the Helvetia Milk Condensing Company , named after the Latin word for Switzerland, with US$ 15,000 in funds collected from other local farmers and businessmen including Louis Latzer, George Roth, and Fred Kaeser. Knoebel was named president and Wildi secretary and treasurer. Roth, Latzer, and Kaeser took director roles with Meÿenberg as superintendent of manufacturing. Production of Helvetia's first product, "Highland Evaporated Cream" unsweetened condensed milk, started on June 14, 1885, in an old, converted wool factory. They were soon processing 300 gallons of raw milk

1513-625: A small slice of many companies in a fund rather than owning shares in a conglomerate. Another example of a successful conglomerate is Warren Buffett 's Berkshire Hathaway , a holding company which used surplus capital from its insurance subsidiaries to invest in businesses across a variety of industries. The end of the First World War caused a brief economic crisis in Weimar Germany , permitting entrepreneurs to buy businesses at rock-bottom prices. The most successful, Hugo Stinnes , established

1602-603: A successful campaign promoting Pet Milk in Ladies' Home Journal in May 1927 followed by creating the "Pet Milk test kitchen" developing recipes and extensive marketing around the concept. Most notable of her marketing efforts was Proetz's development of a pseudonym, "Mary Lee Taylor", who was said to be a "nutritionist and home economist" for Pet Milk. Under this character, Proetz began making bi-weekly radio broadcasts in 1933 offering recipes and cooking tips which incorporated Pet Milk. The show

1691-626: A year before the court case was ruled on. He left his stock in Helvetia to his wife Louisa and his stock in the John Wildi Evaporated Milk Company to his daughter. Since the Helvetia stock was no longer owned by someone who held stock in a competing company, the 1907 rule change no longer had any impact on the Wildi family. After John's death, his family attorney, William Nardin, joined Helvetia's board. Louisa Wildi eventually sold her stock in

1780-439: Is a brand of food products. The brand was especially known for its evaporated milk product created in 1899, then called Carnation Sterilized Cream and later called Carnation Evaporated Milk . The brand has since been used for other related products including milk-flavoring mixes, flavored beverages, flavor syrups , hot cocoa mixes, instant breakfasts , corn flakes , ice cream novelties, and dog food . Nestlé acquired

1869-472: Is currently China's largest civilian-run conglomerate by revenue. In South Korea , the chaebol is a type of conglomerate owned and operated by a family. A chaebol is also inheritable, as most of the current presidents of chaebols succeeded their fathers or grandfathers. Some of the largest and most well-known Korean chaebols are Samsung , LG , Hyundai Kia and SK . In India, family-owned enterprises became some of Asia's largest conglomerates, such as

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1958-824: Is owned by Eagle who still produce the PET Milk brand of evaporated milk. Eagle also licenses the PET trademark to the Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) farmers cooperative who use the "PET Dairy" brand as a regional tradename for fresh and processed dairy products sold in the Southeastern United States . John Baptist Meÿenberg (1847–1914) was an operator at the Anglo-Swiss milk condensery at Cham, Switzerland . Anglo-Swiss made sweetened condensed milk . From 1866 through 1883, Meÿenberg experimented with preservation of milk without

2047-588: Is the successor to the original "Pet Dairy Products Company" founded by the PET Milk Company in 1929. After Pet sold the dairy division to Challer Foods in 1985, it eventually came under the ownership of the Land-O-Sun division of Dean Foods . During Dean's 2020 bankruptcy, the Pet Dairy operation was bought by farmers cooperative DFA who use "PET Dairy" as a regional tradename of fresh and processed dairy products in

2136-555: The Aditya Birla Group , Tata Group , Emami , Kirloskar Group , Larsen & Toubro , Mahindra Group , Bajaj Group , ITC Limited , Essar Group , Reliance Industries , Adani Group and the Bharti Enterprises . In Brazil the most important conglomerates are J&F Investimentos , Odebrecht , Itaúsa , Camargo Corrêa , Votorantim Group , Andrade Gutierrez , and Queiroz Galvão. In New Zealand, Fletcher Challenge

2225-698: The American Brake Shoe Company , real estate in Chicago and New Orleans, Pepsi-Cola General Bottlers, Dad's Root Beer Company, Midas International , and the Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad . It said it had been planning the Pet takeover for two years. Within a year of the acquisition, ICI split the businesses of Pet and Hussmann into separate subsidiaries with Hussmann keeping commercial refrigeration, environmental control, and store equipment product lines and Pet holding

2314-606: The Matutano company in Barcelona , Spain in 1965 as a joint venture with a local snack foods producer. Pet introduced Skimmed Milk and "99% Fat Free Evaporated Skim Milk" products in 1966. By this point, Pet's sales had increased 123% since 1959 when Gamble became president. In 1966, changed its name to Pet Incorporated to reflect its more diverse interests. It then merged with the Hussmann Refrigerator Company and bought

2403-501: The New York Stock Exchange in 1928. The next year, it established a subsidiary, "Pet Dairy Products Company", to start selling fluid milk produced at its newly-acquired Johnson City plant. After Louis Latzer died in 1924, John Latzer put Nardin in charge of sales and marketing. Nardin convinced his friend, copywriter Erma Proetz , to take over the Pet account at its advertising agency, Gardner Advertising Company. Proetz began

2492-646: The Philippines , in 2007, under a separate agreement with Alaska Milk Corporation (the Philippine subsidiary of FrieslandCampina ), Nestlé provided Alaska the long-term license to manufacture and sell Carnation Evaporated Creamer, Carnation Condensada and Milkmaid Sweetened Condensed Milk, under the Nestlé quality guidelines in the Philippines. This trademark license lasted for 14 years until 2021 as Nestlé Philippines reacquired

2581-445: The Southeastern United States . Conglomerate (company) A conglomerate ( / k ə ŋ ˈ ɡ l ɒ m ə r ə t / ) is a type of multi-industry company that consists of several different and unrelated business entities that operate in various industries. A conglomerate usually has a parent company that owns and controls many subsidiaries , which are legally independent but financially and strategically dependent on

2670-641: The United States , conglomerates became popular in the 1960s as a form of economic bubble driven by low interest rates and leveraged buyouts. However, many of them collapsed or were broken up in the 1980s due to poor performance, accounting scandals, and antitrust regulation. In contrast, conglomerates have remained prevalent in Asia, especially in China , Japan , South Korea , and India . In mainland China , many state-affiliated enterprises have gone through high value mergers and acquisitions , resulting in some of

2759-572: The highest value business transactions of all time. These conglomerates have strong ties with the government and preferential policies and access to capital. During the 1960s, the United States was caught up in a "conglomerate fad " which turned out to be a form of an economic bubble . Due to a combination of low interest rates and a repeating bear-bull market , conglomerates were able to buy smaller companies in leveraged buyouts (sometimes at temporarily deflated values). Famous examples from

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2848-445: The 1907 annual meeting of the company, Wildi was forced out of daily operations and was no longer the secretary and treasurer. He still owned over 33% of the company's stock and so was still a member of its board but in 1907 the board passed new laws which forbade board members from working in the milk condensing industry. Despite the new rules, Wildi and Montgomery organized the "John Wildi Evaporated Milk Company" six months after Wildi

2937-426: The 1940s, Pet began offering free recipe books by mail for listeners of the show. At its height, the show was aired on 200 radio stations. It continued after Proetz's 1944 death with other actors playing the titular role. The show moved to NBC in 1948 and aired until 1954. Pet became the first company to add vitamin D to its dairy products via irradiation in 1943 but sales of PET Evaporated Milk peaked in 1950 leading

3026-440: The 1960s include Gulf and Western Industries , Ling-Temco-Vought , ITT Corporation , Litton Industries , Textron , and Teledyne . The trick was to look for acquisition targets with solid earnings and much lower price–earnings ratios than the acquirer. The conglomerate would make a tender offer to the target's shareholders at a princely premium to the target's current stock price. Upon obtaining shareholder approval,

3115-618: The 1980s, General Electric also moved into financing and financial services , which in 2005 accounted for about 45% of the company's net earnings. GE formerly owned a minority interest in NBCUniversal , which owns the NBC television network and several other cable networks . United Technologies was also a successful conglomerate until it was dismantled in the late 2010s. With the spread of mutual funds (especially index funds since 1976), investors could more easily obtain diversification by owning

3204-423: The 9-0-5 Liquor Store chain of 31 St. Louis-area stores for $ 6 million. This period was not without its challenges. While Pet was in the process of moving Hussmann production to a new US$ 13 million St. Louis site from two old plants, a teamsters strike impacted the division's performance. The strike combined with negative market pressures due to slower housing and supermarket building meant Hussmann's performance

3293-651: The Carnation Company in 1985. Carnation was founded as an evaporated milk company, but demand decreased with the increasing availability of home refrigeration throughout the 20th century. Carnation diversified its product portfolio after the 1950s and was acquired by Nestlé in 1984 for $ 3 billion ($ 8,798,206,278 in 2023 dollars ). Elbridge Amos Stuart (born September 10, 1856, in Guilford County , North Carolina ; died January 14, 1944, in Los Angeles , California )

3382-669: The General Milk Co. which was jointly owned by Pet (35%) and Carnation (65%). General Milk itself operated a number of joint ventures including with Standard Brands in Brazil and Beechnut-Life Savers in West Germany . The company became a food products conglomerate in the early 1960s, purchasing or developing many new brands, as Gamble steered its focus toward the more profitable specialty and snack markets. It bought applesauce producer C. H. Musselman of Biglerville, Pennsylvania in 1961 and

3471-562: The PET Dairy division was sold to the Challer Foods subsidiary of Finevest Dairy Holdings. This did not include the canned milk products. By the mid 1980s, Pet had undergone significant restructuring going from 30 operating divisions to 4 groups: Grocery, Specialty, Frozen & Baker, and International. In 1986, Pet acquired Ogden Food Products (including the brands Progresso, Las Palmas, Hollywood, and Hain) for US$ 320 million and Primo Foods,

3560-481: The Sego Milk Products Company of Salt Lake City which restored the company's access to the Western US markets lost after its post-World War I draw-down. The Sego purchase was followed by the acquisition of a Greenville, Illinois ice cream plant and a Johnson City, Tennessee fluid milk processing plant all in the late 1920s. Following its significant expansion during the 1920s, Pet Milk began trading on

3649-509: The Southern US where fresh milk spoiled quickly in the heat and mining regions in the Western US where it was scarce. The company exhibited its products at international events including the Paris Exposition of 1889 and the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. A major aspect of the company's marketing under Wildi in the 1890s was to promote it as an infant formula , particularly as

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3738-577: The Stuart family, who bought back the farm from Nestle, is developing new programs and activities for the farm. Carnation Ice Cream Restaurants were in Oklahoma, California, and Texas. The Carnation Café is a fast casual restaurant in Disneyland and other Disney parks, originally "Carnation Ice Cream Parlor and Restaurant presented by Carnation" (original attraction from the park's opening in 1955). For

3827-598: The United States, some of the examples are The Walt Disney Company , Warner Bros. Discovery and The Trump Organization (see below). In Canada, one of the examples is Hudson's Bay Company . Another such conglomerate is J.D. Irving, Limited , which controls a large portion of the economic activities as well as media in the Province of New Brunswick . Some cite the decreased cost of conglomerate stock (a phenomenon known as conglomerate discount ) as evidential of these disadvantages, while other traders believe this tendency to be

3916-527: The city when the St. Louis area milk producers association went on strike. Learning of this, the strikers in St. Louis convinced Highland area producers to strike as well. Helvetia moved its headquarters to St. Louis in 1921 and Louis Latzer's son, John Latzer, took over leadership of the company though the former remained involved with the company. Two years later, Helvetia renamed itself the PET Milk Company after its signature product. In 1925, Pet bought

4005-409: The company experienced a number of setbacks. The new equipment required frequent adjustment, the factory was short of water and the company had to drill a number of additional wells, and, most concerning, cases of its milk began spoiling on store shelves. Production was halted several times to deal with these issues and much of the blame was placed on Meÿenberg. He was asked to take a reduced salary until

4094-513: The company in 1923 for US$ 3,250,000 . The John Wildi company, under Montgomery's management after Wildi's death, merged with Nestlé during World War I . Since it was easy to transport and did not spoil, "Our PET" was widely used by the US military , including Teddy Roosevelt 's Rough Riders , during the Spanish–American War and World War I . American troops referred to a Helvetia milk can as

4183-423: The company to look to diversification. It began expanding its products with a mix of acquisitions and product development. It introduced first of its kind nonfat dry milk made with an improved process. John Latzer died in 1952 succeeded in leadership by his brother Robert Latzer. Pet acquired Michigan-based Pet-Ritz Foods Company in 1955, a deal orchestrated by Louis Latzer's grandson Theodore Gamble, and established

4272-399: The company's founding, rejoined and assumed the role of technical director and president. Latzer had both a college degree and an education in chemistry and went to work to determine the cause of the spoilage. Assisted by Dr. Werner Schmidt, Wildi, and Knoebel, all of whom had studied chemistry, the company determined that the spoilage had been caused by bacteria and resolved the problem. During

4361-455: The conglomerate usually settled the transaction in something other than cash, like debentures , bonds , warrants or convertible debentures (issuing the latter two would effectively dilute its shareholders down the road, but many shareholders at the time were not thinking that far ahead). The conglomerate would then add the target's earnings to its earnings, thereby increasing the conglomerate's overall earnings per share . In finance jargon,

4450-585: The early 1990s, Pet owned the LaCreme brand of whipped topping and Pet's subsidiary Pet-Ritz also held a regional brand of pie shells, Oronoque. Pet sold the Whitman's chocolate brand in 1993 to Russell Stover Candies . The next year, it sold Orval Kent a group of investors led by former Land O'Lakes executive Dick Fogg. In 1995, Pet was acquired by the Pillsbury Company , a division of Grand Metropolitan , marking

4539-462: The end came in January 1968, when Litton shocked Wall Street by announcing a quarterly profit of only 21 cents per share, versus 63 cents for the previous year's quarter. This was "just a decline in earnings of about 19 percent", not an actual loss or a corporate scandal, and "yet the stock was crushed, plummeting from $ 90 to $ 53". It would take two more years before it was clear that the conglomerate fad

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4628-538: The end of Pet's independent operations. Over the next decade, Pet's primary brands would be split-up as it and its parent companies underwent a number of transitions. In 1997, Pillsbury's parent Grand Metropolitan merged with Guinness to form Diageo . In 1999, Pillsbury sold the Underwood business, including the B&;M, Ac'cent and Sa-son Ac'cent, Las Palmas, and Joan of Arc brands, to B&G Foods . Pillsbury's rationale for

4717-769: The entire company, Pet saw record earnings, invested more in advertising than it had been, and continued to create new products, especially those aimed at nice markets. These included frozen Mexican pizzas from the Old El Paso brand, Pet-Ritz pizza crusts, frozen donuts, natural peanut butter, and Sego diet bars. It expanded its liquor store holdings buying Vendome Liquor Markets of Woodland Hills, California in 1970 and sold off two less profitable operations in 1971: Red Seal based in Denver to T&W, Inc. and its Spanish snack foods brand, Matutano, to PepsiCo . After almost tripling its revenue in 12 years to US$ 1.1 billion in 1977, Pet became

4806-644: The examples are Adamjee Group , Dawood Hercules , House of Habib , Lakson Group and Nishat Group . In the Philippines , the largest conglomerate of the country is the Ayala Corporation which focuses on malls , bank , real estate development , and telecommunications . The other big conglomerates in the Philippines included JG Summit Holdings , Lopez Holdings Corporation , ABS-CBN Corporation , GMA Network, Inc. , MediaQuest Holdings , TV5 Network, Inc. , SM Investments Corporation , Metro Pacific Investments Corporation , and San Miguel Corporation . In

4895-523: The food lines. Pet's sold its Musselman division in 1981 to MFP Enterprises of Vincentown, New Jersey for US$ 35 million and was subsequently bought by Knouse Foods in 1984. In 1982, ICI bought specialty foods producer William Underwood Company for US$ 150 million merging it into Pet. This brought with it Underwood canned meats, B&M beans, and Ac'cent flavor enhancer. Pet also bought printing company McGrew Color Graphics which it added to its existing St. Louis Lithographing subsidiary. In 1983, Pet left

4984-714: The headquarters of corporations to mergers, in which independent ventures were reduced to subsidiaries of conglomerates based in New York or Los Angeles. Pittsburgh, for example, lost about a dozen. The terror instilled by the mere prospect of such harsh consequences for executives and their home cities meant that fending off takeovers, real or imagined, was a constant distraction for executives at all corporations seen as choice acquisition targets during this era. The chain reaction of rapid growth through acquisitions could not last forever. When interest rates rose to offset rising inflation, conglomerate profits began to fall. The beginning of

5073-428: The inner side. During the twentieth century, Carnation Evaporated Milk became the subject of humorous, satirical rhymes. One example that may date back to the year 1900 is as follows: Carnation Milk is the best in the land / Here I sit with a can in my hand / No tits to pull, no hay to pitch / You just punch a hole in the son of a bitch. This quatrain , or a variant of it, has often been portrayed by storytellers as

5162-543: The investigation, Latzer made improvements to Helvetia's operations, automating its plant and improving production speed and safety in the process. By 1890, they had resolved the spoilage issue and Helvetia began growing nationally and internationally. Wildi led the company's marketing efforts and, after seeing the benefits from its actions after the Galveston fire, one major strategy was to send in free product following natural disasters. Particular focus regions for marketing were

5251-408: The issues were resolved. Although he believed that the cause of the spoilage was inadequately sealed cans, others claimed that Meÿenberg's sterilization process was to blame. Meÿenberg refused to accept a reduced salary and left the company in August 1886. He went on to assist Elbridge Amos Stuart in producing Carnation Evaporated Milk in 1899. At Helvetia, Latzer, who had resigned within a year of

5340-561: The merger as a defensive move to avoid carrying through on Pet's agreement. In the end, ICI paid Hardee's US$ 1.1 million to settle the issue prior to completing the acquisition of Pet. ICI, named for the Illinois Central Railroad and led by former Railway Express Agency president William B. Johnson, was a Chicago-based conglomerate. It already owned diverse assets including the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad,

5429-503: The most powerful private economic conglomerate in 1920s Europe – Stinnes Enterprises – which embraced sectors as diverse as manufacturing, mining, shipbuilding, hotels, newspapers, and other enterprises. The best-known British conglomerate was Hanson plc . It followed a rather different timescale than the U.S. examples mentioned above, as it was founded in 1964 and ceased to be a conglomerate when it split itself into four separate listed companies between 1995 and 1997. In Hong Kong, some of

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5518-652: The new businesses they had recently purchased, and by the mid-1970s most conglomerates had been reduced to shells. The conglomerate fad was subsequently replaced by newer ideas like focusing on a company's core competency and unlocking shareholder value (which often translate into spin-offs ). In other cases, conglomerates are formed for genuine interests of diversification rather than manipulation of paper return on investment. Companies with this orientation would only make acquisitions or start new branches in other sectors when they believed this would increase profitability or stability by sharing risks. Flush with cash during

5607-731: The parent company. Conglomerates are often large and multinational corporations that have a global presence and a diversified portfolio of products and services. Conglomerates can be formed by merger and acquisitions , spin-offs , or joint ventures . Conglomerates are common in many countries and sectors, such as media , banking , energy , mining , manufacturing , retail , defense , and transportation . This type of organization aims to achieve economies of scale , market power, risk diversification , and financial synergy. However, they also face challenges such as complexity, bureaucracy , agency problems, and regulation . The popularity of conglomerates has varied over time and across regions. In

5696-454: The president role at Fairmont Foods . At Pet, Boyd F. Schenk became president and CEO after Gamble's death in March 1969. Schenk had worked for Pet since 1947 starting as a laboratory technician then becoming president of the newly-formed frozen foods division in 1963. By the late 1960s, under Schenk's direction, frozen foods had become the largest of Pet's four divisions. With Schenk at the helm of

5785-714: The production of electronics such as televisions. While not a keiretsu, Sony is an example of a modern Japanese conglomerate with operations in consumer electronics , video games , the music industry , television and film production and distribution , financial services , and telecommunications . In China, many of the country's conglomerates are state-owned enterprises , but there is a substantial number of private conglomerates. Notable conglomerates include BYD , CIMC , China Merchants Bank , Huawei , JXD , Meizu , Ping An Insurance , TCL , Tencent , TP-Link , ZTE , Legend Holdings , Dalian Wanda Group , China Poly Group , Beijing Enterprises , and Fosun International . Fosun

5874-566: The result of a slogan contest or advertising contest sponsored by the Carnation Company, although such a contest never actually occurred. The site of the original Carnation Farms is located 27 miles east of downtown Seattle, in Carnation, Washington . In 2006, Nestlé sold the liquid milk business within Malaysia , Singapore , Brunei and Thailand , including the Carnation brand to F&N . In

5963-585: The retail liquor business selling its 52-store 9-0-5 Liquor Stores chain to David C. Kay and a group of investors and the last 24 of its Vendome Liquor Markets stores to Rider Stores of Woodland Hills, California in November. It also sold off its Laura Scudder's business in December 1983. The head of Pet's grocery group, Ray Morris, took the role of Pet's president in 1984 and Shenk became ICI's president and COO in 1985 but continued to serve as Pet's chairman. Also in 1985,

6052-840: The sale was so that it could focus on its larger brands including Green Giant . A year later, General Mills agreed to acquire Pillsbury, and with it the PET brand and its evaporated milk and dry creamer product lines, from Diageo. However, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) initially objected to the transaction citing antitrust concerns. To satisfy the FTC, Diageo and General Mills both agreed to sell several Pillsbury and General Mills brands, including PET, to International Multifoods . Both transactions were approved in 2001. The J.M. Smucker Company acquired Multifoods in 2004 who spun off its US sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk operations in 2015. The new company, Eagle Family Foods Group ,

6141-734: The same year introduced Sego Liquid Diet Food. In 1962, Pet announced the closing of its factory in New Glarus but bought Laura Scudder's , a California producer of snack foods, peanut butter, and mayonnaise, from the Signal Oil and Gas Company. Between 1961 and 1962, Pet also bought Stephen F. Whitman & Son, Inc. chocolates, Downyflake frozen waffles, and pecan producer R. E. Funsten. Its Canadian subsidiary bought Van Kirk Chocolate and Dominion Dairies' Numilk Division. Pet bought Dutch jelly and confectionary producer C. V. Gebroeders Pel in 1963 as Pet sought high-growth markets. The gourmet foods market

6230-489: The scene in the 1975 film Jaws in which the character Ben Gardner's corpse pops out from his stationary boat, director Steven Spielberg re-shot the scene in the swimming pool of editor Verna Fields . Spielberg poured Carnation's powdered milk into the pool in order to simulate the murky waters of Martha's Vineyard where the scene was originally shot. Elbridge Amos Stuart is immortalized in folk musician John Stewart's 1969 song "Mother Country". A Carnation Milk truck

6319-575: The target of an unfriendly takeover bid by IC Industries (ICI) completed in 1978. The deal was complicated by the fact that Pet was in the midst of negotiations to finalize its acquisition of restaurant chain Hardee's which it had agreed to buy for US$ 95 million in March 1978. Since ICI was not interested in Hardee's, the Pet/ICI merger put an end to that discussion. However, Hardee's accused both Pet and ICI of using

6408-434: The third being Kaeser. One aspect of the increased tensions was related to the number of family connections within the company. John Flournoy Montgomery , who had married Wildi's only child, Hedwig, in 1904, was hired as an advertising executive in 1905 or 1906. Latzer disliked Montgomery. After Kaeser's son, Albert, married Latzer's daughter, Mary Jane, in 1906, Latzer and Kaeser became a voting bloc, often opposing Wildi. At

6497-702: The trademark licenses for the Carnation and Milkmaid brands. In 2008, Carnation Farms became Camp Korey, part of the Hole in the Wall Camps founded by Paul Newman . Camp Korey is a medically supervised camp staffed with physicians and nurses, and trained camp counsellors for children living with serious and life-threatening illness. The camp provides a week-long experience of camp programs and activities for children ages 7–16 at no cost to them. In 2016, Camp Korey moved from Carnation Farm to property purchased in Skagit County, and

6586-406: The transaction was " accretive to earnings." The relatively lax accounting standards of the time meant that accountants were often able to get away with creative mathematics in calculating the conglomerate's post-acquisition consolidated earnings numbers. In turn, the price of the conglomerate's stock would go up, thereby re-establishing its previous price-earnings ratio, and then it could repeat

6675-694: The use of sugar. He discovered that condensed milk would last longer if heated to 120 °C (248 °F) in a sealed container, and hence could be preserved without adding sugar. When Anglo-Swiss declined to implement Meÿenberg's work, he resigned from the company and emigrated to the United States. John Meÿenberg first moved to St. Louis , but soon relocated to Highland, Illinois , due to its large Swiss population. On 25 November 1884, U.S. Patents 308,421 (Apparatus for Preserving Milk) and 308,422 (Process for Preserving Milk) were issued to Meÿenberg. Meÿenberg associated with various local merchants in Highland, many of Swiss background, and starting in December 1884 had

6764-425: The well-known conglomerates include Jardine Matheson (AD1824), Swire Group (AD1816), (British companies, one Scottish one English; companies that have a history of over 150 years and have business interests that span across four continents with a focus in Asia.) C K Hutchison Whampoa (now CK Hutchison Holdings ), Sino Group , (both Asian-owned companies specialize business such as real estate and hospitality with

6853-663: The whole process with a new target. In plain English, conglomerates were using rapid acquisitions to create the illusion of rapid growth. In 1968, the peak year of the conglomerate fad, U.S. corporations completed a record number of mergers: approximately 4,500. In that year, at least 26 of the country's 500 largest corporations were acquired, of which 12 had assets above $ 250 million. All this complex company reorganization had very real consequences for people who worked for companies that were either acquired by conglomerates or were seen as likely to be acquired by them. Acquisitions were

6942-435: Was Pet's next target with its 1964 acquisitions of Reese Finer Foods, Inc. and fruit-juice producer D. E. Winebrenner Co. Snack foods producer George H. Dentler & Sons and Stuckey's , Inc. were bought in 1965. Stuckey's was Pet's first operation that was not food processing. Stuckey's did produce pecan candy, which fit nicely with Pet's Funsten business, but also owned and operated 27 roadside stores. The company also founded

7031-424: Was acquired by the Pillsbury Company with "PET" becoming a Pillsbury brand. When Pillsbury was acquired by General Mills in 2001, the PET brand was sold to International Multifoods to avoid antitrust concerns. Multifoods in turn was acquired by J.M. Smucker in 2004 who spun off its US sweetened condensed and evaporated milk operations, including PET, as Eagle Family Foods Group in 2014. The "PET" trademark

7120-615: Was an American milk industrialist and creator of Carnation evaporated milk and its famous slogan, that it came from "Contented Cows". On September 6, 1899, Stuart and a business partner founded the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company in Kent , Washington , and he became its first president (a post he held until 1932, then serving as chairman from 1932 to 1944). Its product was based on the relatively new process of commercial evaporation of beverages. Stuart believed that there

7209-522: Was backed by private investment firm Kelso & Company and based in Akron, Ohio . It took with it a number of Smucker brands including PET. The PET brand is used by two companies for their dairy products. The "PET" trademark is owned by Eagle Foods who still produce "PET Milk" brand evaporated milk. Eagle licenses the "PET" trademark to the DFA cooperative for use in DFA's "PET Dairy" brand. The PET Dairy operations

7298-471: Was called "The Mary Lee Taylor Show" and broadcast from the PET Milk test kitchen. By 1943, these segments had been extended to a half hour airing on CBS Radio on Saturdays with the first half being a soap opera called "The Story of the Week" featuring a young married couple, Jim and Sally Carter. The second half would be "Mary Lee Taylor" discussing her recipes and cooking tips while promoting Pet Milk products. In

7387-455: Was flagging. Additionally, a number of Pet's new products introduced in the previous decades had either failed or were facing competition from newcomers. These challenges led to several changes to the organization in the late 1960s. Pet replaced the head of its milk division with the head of frozen foods, John Bittner, closing two milk plants, and cutting corporate employees by almost 200. Pet's president and COO Gordon Ellis also resigned and took

7476-465: Was forced out. The new company was headquartered in Highland with a factory in Marysville, Ohio . The Helvetia board was outraged at this move but Wildi had enough votes to remain on the board, though he was denied access to meetings. The Wildi family successfully sued the company and, in November 1911, the court ruled that the 1907 change in rules was invalid. However, Wildi died on February 5, 1910, over

7565-462: Was formed in 1981 from the merger of Fletcher Holdings , Challenge Corporation, and Tasman Pulp & Paper, in an attempt to create a New Zealand-based multi-national company. At the time, the newly merged company dealt in construction, building supplies, pulp and paper mills, forestry, and oil & gas. Following a series of bungled investments, the company demerged in the early 2000s to concentrate on building and construction. In Pakistan , some of

7654-573: Was later renamed Carnation, after the nearby breeding and research farms. In 1907, the promotional phrase "Carnation Condensed Milk, the milk from contented cows" was introduced. This slogan referred to the higher quality milk from happy cows grazing in the lush Pacific Northwest . Carnation used this slogan for decades, and it spawned a radio variety program entitled "The Contented Hour," which featured entertainers such as Dinah Shore , Jane Powell and Burns and Allen . The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show , which premiered on CBS television in 1950,

7743-487: Was on its way out. The stock market eventually figured out that the conglomerates' bloated and inefficient businesses were as cyclical as any others—indeed, it was that cyclical nature that had caused such businesses to be such undervalued acquisition targets in the first place —and their descent put "the lie to the claim that diversification allowed them to ride out a downturn." A major selloff of conglomerate shares ensued. To keep going, many conglomerates were forced to shed

7832-510: Was sponsored by Carnation. As was common during that era, instead of cutting to filmed commercials, Burns, Allen and guests broke the " fourth wall " to tout Carnation products in a comedic, often tongue-in-cheek way during the show. In the late 1940s, Carnation Milk sponsored the Tigners, Black fraternal quadruplets, who were born in 1946, as a form of advertising. Since the 1960s, labels of cans of Carnation Condensed Milk have contained recipes on

7921-444: Was value in sanitary milk at a time when fresh milk was neither universally available nor always drinkable, and correctly believed that his product would join other staples on grocers' shelves. In 1901, his partner sold out, leaving Stuart the company and $ 105,000 of debt ($ 3,845,520 in 2023 dollars ). As sales gradually grew, Stuart sought a brand name for the product. Passing a tobacconist 's window in downtown Seattle , Stuart saw

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