CPB
Campbell's Co
Acquired Pepperidge Farm in 1961
I always assumed Pepperidge was a private, family-owned business. But, did you know that Campbell‘s Soup bought this fantastic business back in the day?
This is a pretty big revelation for me since it means Campbell’s owns two of the most invaluable household brands in Goldfish crackers and Milano cookies. Makes it much more interesting to me than just canned soup.
Just like how Clorox has owned Hidden Valley Ranch since acquiring it in 1972!
Some snippets from the 1960 acquisition news:
“The Campbell Soup Company is expanding its food line into the bakery products field with the acquisition of Pepperidge Farm, Inc., of Norwalk, Conn. Under arrangements complet- ed yesterday, Campbell Soup agreed to exchange 357,413 shares of its common stock for Pepperidge Farm, a privately owned concern. Based on yes- terday's closing price for Camp- bell Soup of $78.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, the mar- ket value of these shares would be about $28,200,000.”
“The baking company (Pepperidge) has six plants, in Norwalk, Conn.; Downington, Pa., and Downers Grove, Ill. Its fifty-eight prod- ucts, which include bread, rolls, poultry stuffings, coffee cake and fancy cookies, are sold through 500 distributors and 50,000 retail stores across the country. It employs 1,700 people. Started in Home Kitchen Pepperidge Farm started twenty-three years ago, when Mrs. Margaret Rudkin hit upon the idea of selling a special bread she had been baking in her kitchen to help her son overcome some allergies.“
“W. B. Murphy, president of Campbell, said that Pepperidge Farm would continue to oper- ate with its own employes and officers as a separate company within the Campbell organiza- tion, Campbell, which has nine- teen plants in the United States and nine in foreign countries, turns out 104 food products. It also markets V-8 cocktail vege- table juice and Franco-Ameri- can and Swanson products. The Swanson line includes frozen pies. Campbell, which became pub- licly owned in 1955, has about 10,000,000 common shares out- standing. The Campbell shares to be used in the Pepperidge exchange, effective about Jan. 1, will come from authorized but unissued stock.“