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General Mills Pays $8 Billion For Wilton-Based Pet Food Company

Richard Drew
/
AP
The logo for General Mills appears above a trading post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Friday. General Mills agreed to buy pet food maker Blue Buffalo for $8 billion in its first foray into pet food.

The consumer food giant General Mills is buying gourmet pet food maker Blue Buffalo in a deal worth $8 billion.

Blue Buffalo, which is headquartered in Wilton, Connecticut, is the latest in a series of moves by big companies to get into the lucrative pet market.

The pet industry is booming largely because of millennials. They are willing to shell out as much money for pet food as they are for their own food.

Kevin Ellich, a pet industry analyst for Craig-Hallum Capital, says, “41 percent of millennials surveyed said money is no object when it comes to my pets. While baby boomers…21 percent said that.”

Last year candy bar-maker Mars paid nearly $8 billion for an animal hospital chain. In 2015 Smuckers bought Milk Bone for $3 billion.

Blue Buffalo was founded in 2002 by a family with a sick dog and desire to feed him premium food

Charles is senior reporter focusing on special projects. He has won numerous awards including an IRE award, three SPJ Public Service Awards, and a National Murrow. He was also a finalist for the Livingston Award for Young Journalists and Third Coast Director’s Choice Award.