Annie's built trust with organic mac and cheese, a founder story, and Bernie the bunny. General Mills bought it for $820 million in 2014. Here's what changed, what didn't, and where to look instead.
Corporate-Acquisition
Burt's Bees built trust on beeswax, back-to-the-land simplicity, and natural personal care. Then Clorox bought it for $925 million. Here's what changed, what didn't, and what the marketing leaves out.
Garden of Life built a reputation as the gold standard in whole-food supplements. Then Nestlé bought them for $2.3 billion. The distribution changed, the lawsuits started, and the founder left years ago.
A company named for an Indigenous principle about protecting future generations sold itself to one of the world's top plastic polluters. The price was $700 million.
Native built its brand on the promise of simple, clean ingredients and independence from Big Beauty. Then P&G wrote a $100 million check.