Danone North America is a consumer packaged food and beverage company based in White Plains, New York, U.S, that manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells branded premium dairy products (including yogurt), plant-based foods and beverages, coffee creamers, and organic produce throughout North America and Europe.

Danone North America
Formerly
  • WhiteWave Foods
    (1977–2017)
  • DanoneWave (2017–2018)
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryFood
Founded1977; 47 years ago (1977) in Boulder, Colorado
FounderSteve Demos
FateAs WhiteWave Foods:
Acquired by Dean Foods in 2002, then by Danone
Headquarters,
U.S.
Area served
North America and Europe
Brands
Number of employees
3,800
Parent
Subsidiaries
Websitedanonenorthamerica.com

WhiteWave was purchased by French conglomerate Danone in 2017[1] for $12.5 billion, and was then renamed to "DanoneWave".[2]

History

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The company was established as "WhiteWave Foods" in 1977 by Steve Demos in Boulder, Colorado, to expand soy into the market.[3]

The company was formerly a subsidiary of Dean Foods, and was spun off in an initial public offering announced in August 2012.[4][5] Dean Foods had acquired WhiteWave in May 2002.[6][7]

WhiteWave acquired Earthbound Farm, America's largest grower of organic produce, on January 2, 2014, for about $600 million.[8]

In September 2014, WhiteWave announced they were taking over vegan dessert and beverage company, So Delicious.[9][10][11] WhiteWave announced on October 31, 2014, that the So Delicious takeover was complete.[12]

On July 7, 2016, French food and beverage manufacturer Danone announced a $12.5 billion deal to acquire WhiteWave.[2] On August 15, WhiteWave announced a meeting had been scheduled for October 4 for stockholders to vote on the Danone takeover. The WhiteWave board unanimously recommend that the takeover bid be accepted.[13] On March 31, 2017, Danone announced it had reached an agreement with the US Department of Justice concerning its WhiteWave transaction for $12.5 billion, wherein Danone sold its "Stonyfield dairy subsidiary in the months after the WhiteWave acquisition closes."[14] The acquisition was completed in April 2017 and newly formed company was named "DanoneWave" and in April 2018 it was renamed "Danone North America".[15][16] It now operates as a subsidiary and the US headquarters remains in Denver.[17]

Brands

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The company’s brands distributed in North America include Horizon Organic dairy and pantry products, Silk plant-based foods and beverages, Left Field Farms creamer and milk, Stok cold-brew coffee, So Delicious nut milk and yogurt, Two Good, and International Delight and Land O'Lakes coffee creamers and beverages.[18][19] WhiteWave’s European brands of plant-based foods and beverages include Alpro and Provamel.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Danone seals the deal with WhiteWave". foodbusinessnews.net. Retrieved 2021-06-05.
  2. ^ a b Strom, Stephanie (7 July 2016). "Danone of France to Buy WhiteWave in $10 Billion Deal to Bolster U.S. Portfolio". The New York Times. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  3. ^ Profile In Persistence By Bethany Mclean on CNN Business, May 1, 2001
  4. ^ a b "WhiteWave Foods Company". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  5. ^ Dean Foods Announces Spin-Off of The WhiteWave Foods Company, 1 May 2013, Dean Foods press release
  6. ^ Dean Foods Completes White Wave Transaction, 9 May 2002
  7. ^ Dean Foods goes bust thanks to a fatal error: shying away from alt-milk. November 13, 2019. Rob Leclerc at AG Funder News
  8. ^ "The WhiteWave Foods Company Completes Acquisition of Earthbound Farm". Yahoo! Finance. January 3, 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  9. ^ Holland, Colleen (2014-09-19). "WhiteWave Foods Buys So Delicious Dairy Free". Vegnews.com. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  10. ^ "WhiteWave Foods, Owner of Silk and So Delicious, Buys Vega". Latestvegannews.com. 2015-06-11. Archived from the original on 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  11. ^ "WhiteWave Foods". Whitewave.com. Archived from the original on 2016-11-29. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  12. ^ "WhiteWave Foods Company Completes Acquisition of So Delicious Dairy Free". BevNET.com. 2014-11-03. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  13. ^ "WhiteWave Schedules October 4, 2016 Special Meeting for Vote on Merger Agreement with Danone" (PDF). Whitewave.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
  14. ^ Agnew, Harriet (March 31, 2017). "Danone to sell US dairy subsidiary to speed up WhiteWave deal". Financial Times. Retrieved April 3, 2017.
  15. ^ Cornall, Jim (12 April 2017). "Danone completes acquisition of WhiteWave to create DanoneWave". Dairyreporter.com. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  16. ^ Kaye, Leon (April 13, 2018). "Danone North America is Now the Largest B Corp on Earth". Triple Pundit. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  17. ^ Greg Avery (April 6, 2020). "Colorado food company hikes pay for production workers". Denver Business Journal. Retrieved January 29, 2023. (subscription required)
  18. ^ Castle, Shay. "Danone completes $10 billion acquisition of Broomfield's WhiteWave". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  19. ^ Plunkett's Food Industry Almanac 2008. Plunkett Research. 2008. ISBN 9781593921064. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
edit
  • Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (2004). "History of White Wave, Inc. (Boulder Colorado) (1977-June 1987): Work with Soyfoods". History of Soybeans and Soyfoods: 1100 B.C. to the 1980s (unpublished). Lafayette, CA: SoyInfo Center. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  • Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko (September 9, 2022). History of White Wave, Inc. (1977-2022). Lafayette, CA: Soyinfo Center. ISBN 978-1-948436-82-3. Retrieved December 11, 2022.
  • Official website  
    • Historical business data for WhiteWave Foods:
    • SEC filings