Posts tagged “acquisitions”

Global M&A reached a record $1.3 trillion in Q1 2026, and April is continuing the momentum. McCormick is buying Unilever's food business for $45 billion. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery are merging. Here is every major brand ownership shift entering April 2026.

Sony started making rice cookers and radio repair equipment in 1946. Today it owns PlayStation, Columbia Pictures, Sony Music, and the world's largest music publishing catalogue. Here is the full story.

Coke, Sprite, Fanta, Minute Maid, Powerade, Dasani, Smartwater, Costa Coffee, Fuze Tea, and over 200 more brands all share one parent. Here is how The Coca-Cola Company quietly became a total beverage company.

Berkshire Hathaway started as a failing New England textile mill. Warren Buffett turned it into a holding company that owns GEICO, Dairy Queen, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom, Kraft Heinz, and dozens more. Here is the full story.

Kering owns Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, and Pomellato. It was built by François-Henri Pinault from a French timber and retail conglomerate. Here is the full story.

General Mills started as a flour milling company in 1856. Today it owns Cheerios, Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, and Blue Buffalo. Here is the full story of how it got there.

Unilever was created in 1929 when a British soap company and a Dutch margarine producer merged. Today it owns Dove, Hellmann's, Knorr, Ben & Jerry's, and hundreds more. Here is the full story.

Louis Vuitton, Dior, Moet & Chandon, Hennessy, Tiffany, Bulgari, Givenchy, Celine. LVMH owns 75 luxury brands. Here is how Bernard Arnault built the world's largest luxury conglomerate from a near-hostile takeover in 1987.

Procter & Gamble started in 1837 selling candles and soap in Cincinnati. Today it owns Tide, Pampers, Gillette, Oral-B, and dozens more. Here is the full story of how it became the world's largest consumer goods company.

Nestlé started in 1867 with a single infant formula product. Today it owns KitKat, Nespresso, Purina, Maggi, and hundreds more. Here is the full story of how that happened.

Kraft Heinz owns Heinz, Kraft, and Grey Poupon. Unilever owns Hellmann's and Knorr - but is selling its food brands to McCormick in a $44.8 billion deal. Here is the full condiment ownership map for 2026.

Tempur-Pedic, Sealy, Stearns & Foster, Serta, Beautyrest, and Sleep Number. Here is who owns the mattress industry in 2026, including Tempur Sealy's landmark $4 billion Mattress Firm acquisition.

Henkel is buying Olaplex for $1.4 billion. Mars completed its Kellanova acquisition bringing Pringles and Cheez-It under one roof. Saks Global filed for bankruptcy. Here is every significant brand ownership change from January through March 2026.

Q1 2026 delivered record M&A activity worth $1.3 trillion globally. McCormick is buying Unilever's food brands for $45 billion. Henkel bought Olaplex. Mars finished integrating Kellanova. Here are the ten brand deals that defined the first quarter.

Unilever exits food with a $44.8B McCormick deal, KDP closes its $18B JDE Peet's acquisition, and Estee Lauder opens merger talks with Puig. Every major brand ownership shift in March 2026.

Google and Microsoft have spent hundreds of billions acquiring companies over the past two decades. Here is every major brand each company owns, how their strategies compare, and who is winning the acquisition race in 2026.

Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche, Lamborghini, Bentley, Bugatti, SEAT, Skoda, MAN, Scania, and more all share one corporate parent. Here is how Volkswagen Group assembled the world's largest automotive brand portfolio.

Lysol, Dettol, Mucinex, Durex, Nurofen, and Finish all share one parent: Reckitt. Discover how a British consumer goods company built a global portfolio of trusted health and hygiene brands.

Clinique, MAC, La Mer, Jo Malone, Bobbi Brown, and Aveda all share one parent company. Here is how The Estée Lauder Companies built the world's largest prestige beauty portfolio.

Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, and Beck's are all owned by the same Belgian-Brazilian company. Here is how AB InBev became the world's largest brewer through 30 years of aggressive acquisitions.

M&M's, Snickers, Pedigree, Royal Canin, Ben's Original, Wrigley. One famously private family company owns all of them. Here is the complete guide to Mars Inc in 2026.

Johnnie Walker. Guinness. Smirnoff. Casamigos. Don Julio. One company owns them all. Here is how Diageo built the world's most valuable spirits portfolio.

Nespresso is Nestlé. Dunkin is private equity. Starbucks is independent. Here is who actually owns 10 of the world's biggest coffee brands in 2026.

Alphabet is far more than a search engine. From YouTube to Waymo to DeepMind, here is every major brand and subsidiary that Alphabet Inc. controls in 2026.

From Petco to Subway to Univision, private equity firms control more of your daily purchases than you realize. Here are 20 major brands currently in PE ownership as of 2026.

Budweiser is Belgian-Brazilian. Purina is Swiss. Firestone is Japanese. Here are 30 brands that feel deeply American but are owned by foreign corporations.

After an acquisition, some brands keep their name. Others change entirely. Here's why companies rebrand following ownership changes, what triggers the decision, and what famous rebrands reveal about corporate strategy.

When a company acquires a brand, thousands of employees face uncertainty. Here's what typically happens to staff during M&A integration, why layoffs happen, and which roles are most at risk.

From initial offer to closing day, here is the complete step-by-step process of how one company buys a brand or business, including due diligence, regulatory review, and what happens after the deal closes.

From Paramount Skydance's $110B Warner Bros. deal to Kraft Heinz pausing its split, here is every major brand ownership change in February 2026.

Which industries see the most brand acquisitions? We compared technology, consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals to find out where the most M&A activity happens and why.

From AB InBev's $100 billion beer merger to Microsoft's $69 billion Activision deal, these are the largest brand acquisitions in history and how they changed what you buy.

Some indie brands sell out and thrive. Others sell out and die. And a few refuse to sell at all. Here are the stories of independent brands that faced the acquisition question.

Some brands have been bought and sold more often than houses. From Tropicana to Dr Pepper, these are the consumer brands with the most ownership changes.

From Google to Xbox to Instagram, the tech industry is controlled by a few giants. Map every major tech brand to its parent company in this 2026 guide.

From Keurig Dr Pepper's planned split to Capri Holdings selling Versace, here are the latest brand ownership changes happening right now in February 2026.

They started as scrappy startups challenging corporate giants. Then the giants bought them. Here are 10 independent brands that sold for jaw-dropping amounts.

Dr. Dre sold Beats to Apple for $3 billion. Jessica Alba took Honest Company public. Kylie Jenner sold a majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics. Here is what happens when celebrity brands get acquired.

When big companies buy indie beauty brands, what actually changes? We examine real cases from CeraVe to Drunk Elephant to find out what happens next.

Your favorite brand just got bought by a corporation. Should you panic? Here is what typically changes (and what does not) when brands change hands, based on dozens of real examples.

Private equity firms now own thousands of consumer brands. Learn how PE reshapes the products you buy, from beauty to food to retail, and what it means.

Microsoft has spent over $200 billion on acquisitions since 2011. From Skype to LinkedIn to Activision Blizzard, trace how Microsoft built its modern empire.

How Disney spent over $80 billion acquiring Pixar, Marvel, Lucasfilm, and 21st Century Fox to build the world's most powerful entertainment empire.

Many iconic American brands are owned by foreign corporations. From Budweiser to Trader Joe's to Ben & Jerry's, discover which 'American' brands have overseas owners.

AbbVie spent $63 billion on Allergan. Pfizer spent $43 billion on Seagen. Why do pharmaceutical giants keep acquiring smaller companies? The answer lies in the patent cliff.

The beauty industry has seen more acquisitions in six years than the previous two decades combined. From Estee Lauder to L'Oreal to indie brand buyouts, here is who owns what in beauty.

Many brands that look independent are owned by massive corporations. Learn how to identify truly independent brands and why ownership matters.

Apple has made over 120 acquisitions since 1988. Most were tiny startups you never heard of. But a few transformed the company forever. Here is the complete acquisition story.

Amazon owns far more than an online store. From Whole Foods to MGM to Ring, here is every brand and subsidiary Amazon controls as of 2026.

From Band-Aids to blockbuster drugs, J&J spent a century building one of healthcare's largest empires. Then it split in two. Now Kenvue is being acquired for $48.7 billion.

Dove is owned by Unilever, acquired in 1957. Discover Unilever's beauty portfolio, acquisition strategy, and what it means for consumers in 2026.

Direct-to-consumer brands follow a remarkably consistent path from startup to corporate acquisition. Learn the pattern, the prices, and what happens next.