Groupe Danone, known as Dannon in the United States, is a French food-products multinational corporation based in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It claims world leadership in fresh dairy products, marketed under the corporate name, and also in bottled water. In 2007 it swapped its world number 2 position as producer of cereals and biscuits for the same position in baby foods, having sold the biscuits division to Kraft Foods and acquired Numico.
Besides the Danone/Dannon brand of yoghurts, the company owns several internationally known brands of bottled water: Volvic, Evian, and Badoit. About 56% of its 2006 net sales derived from dairy, 28% from beverages, and 16% from biscuits and cereals.
Danone owns many water brands worldwide. In Asia, it has acquired Yili, Aqua (Indonesia) and Robust (92%) and has a 51% holding in China's Wahaha Joint Venture Company, giving it a total market share of 20% and making it the leading vendor of packaged water in Asia.
The original company bearing the corporate name was founded in 1919 by Isaac Carasso in Barcelona (Spain) as a small factory producing yoghurt. The factory was named Danone, a Catalan diminutive of the name of his first son, Daniel Carasso.
Ten years later, the first French factory was built. During the German occupation of France during World War II, Daniel moved the company to New York to avoid persecution as a result of his Jewish faith. In the United States, Daniel partnered with the Swiss-born Spaniard Joe Metzger and changed the brand name to Dannon to sound more American.
In 1951, Daniel Carasso returned to Paris to manage the family's businesses in France and Spain, and the American business was sold in 1959. In Europe in 1967, Danone merged with Gervais, the leading fresh cheese producer in France and became Gervais Danone.
Another branch of Groupe Danone descended from industrial glassmaker Boussois-Souchon-Neuvesel (BSN), which was founded by the family of Antoine Riboud. After a failed attempted takeover battle for its larger rival Saint-Gobain, Riboud transformed it into one of Europe's leading food groups in the 1970s through a series of acquisitions and mergers, including the 1973 merger with Gervais Danone.
The acquisitions initially took the shape of vertical integration, acquiring Alsacian brewer Kronenbourg and Evian mineral water who were the glassmaker's largest customers. This move provided content with which to fill the factory's bottles. In 1973, the company merged with Gervais Danone and began to expand internationally. In 1979, the company abandoned glassmaking by disposing of Verreries Boussois. In 1987, Gervais Danone acquired European biscuit manufacturer Général Biscuit, owners of the LU brand, and, in 1989, it bought out the European biscuit operations of Nabisco.
In 1994, BSN changed its name to Groupe Danone, adopting the name of the group’s best-known international brand. Franck Riboud succeeded his father, Antoine, as the company's chairman and chief executive officer in 1996 when Riboud senior retired. Under Riboud junior, the company continued to pursue its focus on three product groups (dairy, beverages, and cereals) and divested itself of several activities which had become non-core.
In 1999 and 2003, the group sold 56% and 44%, respectively, of its glass-containers business. In 2000, the group also sold most of its European beer activities (the brand Kronenbourg and the brand 1664 were sold to Scottish & Newcastle for UK£ 1.7 billion; Its Italian cheese and meat businesses (Egidio Galbani Spa) were sold in March 2002; as were its beer producing activities in China. The company's British (Jacob's) and Irish biscuit operations were sold to United Biscuits in September 2004. In August 2005, the Group sold its sauces business in the United Kingdom and in the United States (HP Foods), in January 2006, its sauces business in Asia (Amoy Food) was sold to Ajinomoto. Despite these divestitures, Danone continues to expand internationally in its 3 core business units, emphasising health and well-being products.
In July 2007, it was announced that Danone had reached agreement with Kraft to sell its biscuits division, including the LU and Prince brands, for around €5.3 billion. Also in July 2007, a €12.3 billion cash offer by Danone for the Dutch baby food and clinical nutrition company Numico was agreed to by both boards, creating the world's second largest manufacturer of baby food.
source:wikipedia
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