As Green Giant Heads to B&G Foods, a Look at His Career
The Green Giant's tenure at General Mills is coming to an end. The venerable veggie brand, along with the Le Sueur canned vegetables brand, is being sold to B&G Foods for about $765 million.
The Green Giant and his "ho, ho, ho" bellows are well known, even though sales of canned and frozen vegetables have suffered in recent years as consumers look for fresher offerings.
"We understand the motivation to offload the vegetable business, a category where share degradation persists," Morningstar analyst Erin Lash wrote Thursday, adding that she believed General Mills "garnered a decent multiple for these assets." General Mills has owned Green Giant since 2001.
B&G, which expects to close the deal by the end of the year, "plans to offer "new and innovative products that will respond to the needs of today's health conscious consumer," CEO Robert Cantwell said in a statement. The deal brings B&G, which markets foods such as Cream of Wheat hot cereal and Pirate's Booty snacks, into the frozen food aisles for the first time.
As the Green Giant gets ready to move from his home in Minnesota to B&G's Parsippany, N.J. headquarters, here's a look at some major moments in the ad icon's past.
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