General Mills

General Mills Inc. has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy a majority stake in French yogurt company Yoplait, the company said Friday. Yoplait is the world's second-largest yogurt maker and is owned by French investment firm PAI partners and French cooperative dairy group Sodiaal. If successful, General Mills would acquire the roughly 50 percent stake held by PAI partners and work with Sodiaal, which is retaining its stake. General Mills did not disclose the value of the offer but the Wall Street Journal, citing a personal familiar with the situation, has placed it at $2.2 billion.

General Mills Inc. will get rid of 850 jobs in an attempt to cut costs and boost productivity as items such as Cheerios cereal, Progresso soups and Hamburger Helper become costlier to make. The downsizing will affect 2.4% of the Minneapolis company’s workforce of 35,000 people. Including employee severance, General Mills expects $109 million in pretax restructuring charges. Of that, $94 million will be recorded in the fourth quarter, which ends May 27.

The growing popularity of Greek yogurt is putting a damper on General Mills' Yoplait brand, pushing the company's third quarter volume sales down in the U.S. Though General Mills' Peanut Butter Cheerios made a strong debut at the beginning of the year and the “fast-growing” natural and organics foods sector enjoyed a double-digit increase in sales, domestic volume fell in the quarter ended Feb. 26. Yoplait sales slipped 3% as Greek yogurt brands...

Build-a-Bear Workshop was introducing a line of stuffed animals called smallfrys and wanted to reach moms through Facebook. One video used in the online promotion showed a woman pulling up to a fast-food window. Her young daughter requests "a smallfry. " When her mom suggests a fruit cup or celery sticks, the daughter says, "Mom, order me a curly-haired bunny in a purple sequined bathing suit. " The 45-second smallfrys spot came not from a traditional advertising agency but from Poptent Inc., a "crowdsourced" video production studio that has built a global community of 50,000 writers, directors, cinematographers and animators to create commercials for Build-a-Bear, American Airlines, Dell, Intel, Jaguar, General Mills and others.

General Mills Inc. said Tuesday that it would raise cereal prices to match increases by competitors, but investors sent its shares down 3.4%, and one analyst downgraded the stock. General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe said customers should actually see lower prices per box, but the boxes would be smaller, so the effect was a price increase of a few percent. The new prices go into effect June 25. The maker of Wheaties and Lucky Charms has been looking for a way to boost profit on its cereals.

General Mills Inc. employees have been questioned by the Securities and Exchange Commission about shipping excess orders to supermarkets to inflate sales and boost the No. 2 U.S. cereal maker's share price, according to a lawyer for a fired employee who has met with the agency. On Tuesday, General Mills said the SEC's staff had recommended civil action against the Minneapolis-based company over sales and accounting practices.

General Mills Inc. said fiscal second-quarter profit fell 35% and profit this period won't meet analysts' forecasts as the company spends money to integrate its acquisition of most of Pillsbury's businesses. Net income fell to $130.8 million, or 41 cents a share, from $202.7 million, or 70 cents, a year earlier. Revenue in the period ended Nov. 25 rose 24% to $2.34 billion. General Mills expects earnings before extraordinary costs to be 40 cents to 44 cents in the third quarter and $2.15 to $2.

General Mills Inc. said third-quarter profit almost tripled, helped by the 2001 acquisition of Pillsbury. Net income climbed to $240 million, or 63 cents a share, from $82 million, or 22 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 11% to $2.65 billion. Shares of the Minneapolis-based company rose 5 cents to $44.93 on the NYSE.

Britain's Diageo, owner of Burger King and Guinness beer, is in talks to combine its Pillsbury food business with General Mills Inc. in an expected $10.5-billion share swap with the U.S. cereal maker, the companies said. A deal, which would mark the latest step in a rapid consolidation of the food industry, would leave Diageo with a 30% to 40% stake in enlarged General Mills, according to sources close to the situation.

The growing popularity of Greek yogurt is putting a damper on General Mills Inc.'s Yoplait brand, helping to push the company's third-quarter sales volume down in the U.S. Although General Mills' Peanut Butter Cheerios made a strong debut at the beginning of the year and its natural and organic foods sector enjoyed a double-digit increase in sales volume, domestic volume for the food giant fell in the fiscal quarter that ended Feb. 26. ...

The growing popularity of Greek yogurt is putting a damper on General Mills' Yoplait brand, pushing the company's third quarter volume sales down in the U.S. Though General Mills' Peanut Butter Cheerios made a strong debut at the beginning of the year and the “fast-growing” natural and organics foods sector enjoyed a double-digit increase in sales, domestic volume fell in the quarter ended Feb. 26. Yoplait sales slipped 3% as Greek yogurt brands...

General Mills Inc. has entered into exclusive negotiations to buy a majority stake in French yogurt company Yoplait, the company said Friday. Yoplait is the world's second-largest yogurt maker and is owned by French investment firm PAI partners and French cooperative dairy group Sodiaal. If successful, General Mills would acquire the roughly 50 percent stake held by PAI partners and work with Sodiaal, which is retaining its stake. General Mills did not disclose the value of the offer but the Wall Street Journal, citing a personal familiar with the situation, has placed it at $2.2 billion.

Fake blueberries are usually plastic and can be found with other fake fruits in decorative arrangements or on bizarre hats. Now, apparently, they can be found in food. A range of fake blueberries are in a number of retail food items that contain labels or photos suggesting real blueberries were used in the products, according to an investigation. Sigh. As if it's not hard enough to include fruits in your diet. Now you have to watch for fraudulent food. The nonprofit Consumer Wellness Center reported Thursday that its investigation found "blueberries" that were nothing more than a concoction of sugar, corn syrup, starch, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and -- of course -- artificial food dye blue No. 2 and red No. 40. The offenders are well-known manufacturers such as Kellogg's, Betty Crocker and General Mills, and the fakes were found in bagels, cereals, breads and muffins.

Soup, which sustained a nation through the Great Depression, has itself fallen on hard times in the "Great Recession." Winter is supposed to be prime soup season. And one might expect that to be even more the case with U.S. unemployment at 10% during one of the snowiest East Coast winters on record. Soup is a hot meal that's both cheap and quick. But trade data highlight the balancing act name-brand food companies face in this new era of American thriftiness. If it's not on sale, shoppers tend to look elsewhere.

I believe that exercise is incredibly bad for you. I believe the moon is made of cheese. What everyone else believes . . . well, I believe the opposite. That's just my stubborn nature. My soul seems so cold and stormy, particularly around the holidays. I should've been a Yankee farmer from Vermont. Or a senator from anywhere. See, when everyone else goes left, I go straight up the middle. When everyone else screams "Go, Lakers!" I'm inclined to root for the other guys (unless it's Denver, of course)

Higher costs outweighed increased sales as General Mills Inc. reported a worse-than-expected 33% drop in profit for its fiscal third quarter. The company's shares fell more than 11% to $47.63, their lowest point in more than three years. For the period ended Feb. 22, the Golden Valley, Minn., company earned $288.9 million, or 85 cents a share, down from $430.1 million, or $1.23, a year ago. Revenue rose 4% to $3.54 billion. Excluding certain charges, earnings were 79 cents a share, compared with 87 cents in the previous year.

Joe Paterno is 81, and after 59 years as an assistant coach or the head coach at Penn State, he's as much a part of the football scene at Beaver Stadium as the cement. Paterno starts the last season of his contract today when Penn State plays host to Coastal Carolina, which ended 2007 as the 53rd-ranked team in Division I-AA. "I think it's a good opener for us," Paterno said. He's probably right about that, but it's a long season and Paterno has something to shoot for besides a contract extension.