Italian Nutella Kingbuys America’s Candy, Cereal Thrones with $11 Billion Sugar Rush
KEY POINTS
- •Starting in 2017, Italian company Ferrero bought several iconic American brands including Fannie May and Nestlé's US candy portfolio.
- •In 2024, Ferrero spent $3.1 billion acquiring WK Kellogg cereals like Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes amid declining sales.
- •Ferrero invested $75 million on a Nutella Peanut line and opened a 45,000-square-foot innovation center in Chicago.
Since 2017, Ferrero has been storming America’s snack kingdom, spending roughly $11 billion—yes, billion with a B—buying Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, and even kicking Kellogg’s cereal empire into its portfolio for $3.1 billion. Their conquest started with a $115 million sweet hello to Fannie May’s century-old chocolates, followed by a $2.8 billion takeout of Nestlé’s US candy realm. Now commanding over 50 brands, they've tripled US revenue from $600 million to $3 billion while insisting Americans want Nutella with peanuts and milk chocolate because apparently Europe’s palate is too boring. Meanwhile, they built a 45,000-square-foot Chicago R&D lab and a fancy Illinois plant to churn out Kinder Bueno and Butterfinger bars. The plan? To be the snack world’s version of 1920s Coca-Cola and Pepsi, but you know, with healthier doses of sugar crashes and regret.
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(1 of 3)Ferrero is basically America’s snack vampire, pumping billions into candy and cereal companies while forcing Nutella to evolve peanut-style. Next stop: world domination, one Butterfinger at a time.
Buying up America’s snacks like a sugar-crazed auctioneer, Ferrero’s proving you can’t spell ‘conquer’ without ‘confection’.
Ferrero’s $11 billion snack empire dreams mean soon your pantry items will file taxes in Euros and demand almond milk.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 8/16/2026 | Author: Havovi Cooper,Sarah Andersen,Jessica Orwig
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