Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and Giovanni Ferrero knows it.
Scion and executive chairman of Ferrero Group, the company behind favorites like Nutella, Kinder, and Ferrero Rocher, Ferrero announced plans in July to acquire WK Kellogg, maker of Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops, in a deal worth $3.1 billion. The purchase will expand Ferrero’s presence in North America and lessen its reliance on chocolate products amid rising global cocoa prices.
It also gives Ferrero Group a lift against shifting consumer preferences as US shoppers gravitate toward lower priced storebrand snacks and cereals or opt for healthier options.
Ferrero, grandson of the company’s founders and Italy’s richest man, has been on an acquisition spree since taking sole control of the company after the death of his father, Michele, in 2015. He has since added at least 21 companies across nine countries to his portfolio.
Operating in more than 170 countries total and managing some 35 brands, Ferrero Group reported €18.4 billion (about $21.5 billion) in revenue last fiscal year, up nearly 9% from the prior period.
Kellogg has undergone a major restructuring. The brand, which originated in 1894 when Will Keith Kellogg accidentally developed Corn Flakes, has shown resilience in navigating shifts in breakfast eating trends, the movement to replace artificial dyes, and even an overall refocus on its health-and-wellness image, says Russell Zwanka, director of the food marketing program and associate professor of marketing at Western Michigan University.
In 2023, the parent company separated its North American cereal business, dubbed WK Kellogg, from its global snacking division, which was later sold to Mars, maker of M&M’s and Skittles.
“When you think of breakfast, you think of Kellogg’s,” says Zwanka.
Married with two sons, Ferrero is an avid cyclist, a philanthropist, and the published author of three novels. At the helm of the company established in Alba in 1946, the acquisition of WK Kellogg is a crowning achievement.
“Adding the Kellogg’s cereal portfolio to the Ferrero North American mix allows synergies in marketing messages, opportunities for crossbranding—maybe a Nutella Frosted Flakes?—and opens up an entirely new daypart for Ferrero,” Zwanka notes. “On top [of that], many customers utilize cereal as an afternoon snack, where Ferrero already plays with some heavy-hitting brands.”
