“Dog owners spent less overall on their pets this year compared to 2023, while cat owners spent slightly more than they did in 2023,” reports the American Veterinary Medical Association.
General Mills will pick up two new manufacturing facilities in Missouri as part of the deal paid for with cash and new debt.
The company signaled this fall that it wanted to pay up to $2 billion for a “bolt-on” acquisition to boost its business after announcing the $2.1 billion sale of Yoplait. Since General Mills bought Blue Buffalo in 2018, it has made four more pet acquisitions, including European brand Edgard & Cooper this year.
Former General Mills exec David Clark called the Whitebridge acquisition a “swap” from the slow-growing yogurt brand to “a more synergistic, growth-focused portfolio.”
“If your business model depends on feeding more humans, you’re in trouble,” Clark wrote on LinkedIn. “Around the world, people are having fewer children, but many are offsetting this by adding more pets. Expanding in pet food gives General Mills access to a growing market to help counterbalance the population headwinds.”
