The William Wrigley Jr.
Company is an American company headquartered in the Wrigley
Building in Chicago, Illinois.The company was founded on April 1,
1891, originally selling products such as soap and baking powder.
In 1892, William Wrigley, Jr., the company's founder, began
packaging chewing gum with each can of baking powder. The chewing gum
eventually became more popular than the baking powder itself and Wrigley's
reoriented the company to produce the popular chewing gum.The company currently
sells its products in more than 180 countries and maintains 14 factories in
various countries, including the United States, Mexico, Australia, the United
Kingdom, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, the Philippines, France, Kenya, Taiwan,
China, India, Poland, and Russia.In 2004, Wrigley purchased the Life
Savers and Altoids businesses from Kraft
Foodsfor US$1.48 billion. On January 23, 2007, Wrigley signed a purchase
agreement to acquire an 80 percent initial interest in A. Korkunov for
$300 million with the remaining 20 percent to be acquired over time. On April
28, 2008, it was announced that Mars, Inc would acquire Wrigley for
approximately $23 billion.Financing for the transaction was provided
by Berkshire Hathaway, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan.
Berkshire Hathaway holds a minority equity investment in the Wrigley
subsidiary.The corporate headquarters, the Wrigley Building, is one of the
more well-known landmarks on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago.In June
1974, a Marsh supermarket in Troy, Ohio installed the
first bar code scanning equipment. The first product to be scanned
using a UPC bar code was a 10 pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. This
pack of gum is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution'sNational
Museum of American History.In some countries, xylitol is used to sweeten
gum, instead of aspartame. By avoiding sugar, the chance of tooth decay is
lowered, since the sugar otherwise used may turn into acid after chewing the
gum. It is also claimed that in chewing, it may help to remove food residues.
Xylitol based products are allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to
make the medical claim that they do not promote dental cavities.
Net income $1.2 billion (2012)