These Are the Companies Amazon and Facebook Might Buy Next
Why Big Tech sitting on piles of cash in the middle of a recession will power the coming M&A boom
In the middle of the Great Depression, Mars candy titan Forrest Mars Sr. decided he was going to buy a dog food company. For the head of one of the world’s most iconic candymakers, it wasn’t the most natural of acquisitions.
“He was always prepared to consider outlandish ideas,” a colleague later noted. At the time, purchasing Chappel Brothers, a small U.K.-based purveyor of pet food — itself a category that had only just emerged — was a wild notion. But Forrest’s mind was made up, and in 1934, he brought “Chappie” into the company known for producing Snickers, Mars, and 3 Musketeers bars.
It turned out to be a stroke of genius. With virtually no competition, Chappie became a bestseller in Europe, dominating the region, and setting the groundwork for Mars’ pet-focused empire. Over the years that followed, the company would go on to launch Pedigree and 38 other pet brands, in addition to purchasing a large chain of veterinary clinics. Today, the company synonymous with M&Ms and other sweets earns the majority of its revenue serving animals.
