Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
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William Perez, CEO
The William Wrigley Jr. Company 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.
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[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 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]
They also sponsor UK soap Hollyoaks
[edit] Recent changes in gum
In 2003, Wrigley replaced part of the sugar content in most of their gum brands with aspartame, the overall reason is unclear and the change remains controversial with consumers who dislike the aftertaste of aspartame.
In 2004, after years of having a pack of Wrigley's gum cost 25 cents, the company changed the price to 30 cents. However, in Canada, the pricing changed to 45 cents.
[edit] Subsidiaries
[edit] Trivia
In June 1974, Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio installed the first bar code scanning equipment. The first product to be scanned using a UPC bar code was a 10 pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. This pack of gum is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.
[edit] Brands
[edit] Gum (US)
[edit] Gum (Canada)
[edit] Gum (made by The Wrigley Company Ltd., Estover, Plymouth, UK)
Products
