Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company

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William Wrigley Jr. Company
Type Public (NYSE: WWY)
Founded Chicago, Illinois, USA in 1891
Headquarters 410 North Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois, USA
Key people William Wrigley, Jr. II, Chairman
William Perez, CEO
Industry Food processing
Products Juicy Fruit, Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, more...
Revenue ▲$3.649 billion USD (2004)
Employees 14,800
Website wrigley.com

The William Wrigley Jr. Company (NYSE: WWY) 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.

Contents

[edit] 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:

Wrigley has produced some strong corporate leaders such as Ralph Scozzafava, who served as Vice President - Worldwide Commercial Operations from 2001-2007, and went on to serve on the board of directors as Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Designate for Furniture Brands International.[2] Ash ElDifrawi, Wrigley's former Managing Director of the Global Enjoyment Platform for several years, continued his career with Google, as Head of Brand Adverstising and has currently accepted a position with NetShops Inc. as the company's first CMO. [3]

In 2004, after years of having a stick of Wrigley's gum cost 25 cents, the company changed the price to 30 cents

[edit] Subsidiaries

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

[edit] Brands

[edit] Gum (US)

[edit] Gum (Canada)

[edit] Gum (Made by The Wrigley Company Ltd., Estover, Plymouth, UK)

Products

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Mars, Buffett Team Up in Wrigley Bid". Wall Street Journal (2008-04-27). Retrieved on 2008-04-27.
  2. ^ "Furniture Brands International Names Ralph Scozzafava as Chief Executive Officer". Market Watch (2008-01-02). Retrieved on 2008-03-31.
  3. ^ "NetShop Inc. Appoints Ash ElDifrawi as Company's First Chief Marketing Officer". PR Newswire (2008-03-26). Retrieved on 2008-03-31..

[edit] External links

[edit] Data


v • d • e
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Senior management
William Perez, CEO and President · William Wrigley, Jr. II, Chairman
Past CEOs and Presidents
Chewing gum
Bubblegum
Mint and candy
See also
Annual Revenue: $529 million USD (▲2.3% FY 2006) · Employees: 15,800 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: WWY · Website: www.wrigley.com