The Hillshire Brands Company was an American food company based in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

. Prior to its acquisition by

Tyson Foods Tyson Foods, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, based in Springdale, Arkansas, that operates in the food industry. The company is the world's second-largest processor and marketer of chicken, beef, and pork after JBS S.A. It annually ...

, the company employed over 9,000 people and generated nearly $4 billion in annual sales.

History

Founding and early years

Hillshire Brands made its debut on June 29, 2012, after the former

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. It had operations in more than 40 countries and sold its products in over 180 countries. Its international operations were headquartered in Utrec ...

spun off its international coffee and tea division and renamed the remaining units of the company Hillshire Brands. It began trading on the

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...

that same day under the ticker HSH. Under the terms of the deal, Sara Lee's stock underwent a one-for-five reverse split. As of June 27, 2012, all Sara Lee shareholders saw their holdings transform into Hillshire Brands shares and shrink by a factor of five. In addition, each former Sara Lee shareholder received shares in D.E. Master Blenders 1753 on a one-to-one basis. The company paid out a concurrent $3 special cash dividend on all D.E Master Blenders 1753 shares. In May 2013 the split was recognized among the six most successful

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune (magazine), Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States Joint-stock company#Closely held corporations and publicly traded corporations, corporations by ...

companies’ spinoffs by ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'' magazine. During the fiscal year 2013 roughly three quarters of Hillshire's revenues (74%) were generated through retail channels while the foodservice business accounted for 26% of the company's sales.

Abandoned merger with Pinnacle Foods

In May 2014, Hillshire Brands announced it was buying

Pinnacle Foods Pinnacle Foods, Inc., is a packaged foods company headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, that specializes in shelf-stable and frozen foods. The company became a subsidiary of Conagra Brands on October 26, 2018. History The company was fou ...

for US$4.23 billion in a

cash In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins. In bookkeeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-im ...

and

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a compan ...

deal. Pinnacle Foods brands include

Birds Eye Birds Eye is an American international brand of frozen foods owned by Conagra Brands in the United States, by Nomad Foods in Europe, and Simplot in Australia. The former Birds Eye Company Ltd., originally named "Birdseye Seafood, Inc." had b ...

Duncan Hines Duncan Hines (March 26, 1880 – March 15, 1959) was an American pioneer of restaurant ratings for travelers. He is best known today for the brand of food products that bears his name. Early life Hines was born in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the so ...

Hungry-Man Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former "Swanson Company" was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner bu ...

and

Swanson Swanson is a brand of TV dinners, broths, and canned poultry made for the North American and Hong Kong markets. The former "Swanson Company" was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, where it developed improvements of the frozen dinner. The TV dinner b ...

frozen

TV dinner A frozen meal (also called TV dinner (Canada and US), prepackaged meal, ready-made meal, ready meal (UK), frozen dinner, and microwave meal) is a packaged frozen meal that comes portioned for an individual. A frozen meal in the United States an ...

s, among many others. Days later,

Pilgrim's Pride Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is an American, multi-national food company, currently one of the largest chicken producers in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer in Mexico. It exited bankruptcy in December 2009 ...

threatened the deal with its own bid for Hillshire Brands for $6.4 billion. To complicate matters further, on 29 May 2014,

announced a $6.13 billion cash bid for Hillshire Brands. On 9 June 2014 Hillshire announced it had received a revised bid from Tysons valuing the company at $8.55 billion. Pilgrim's Pride simultaneously announced it had withdrawn its bid.

Acquisition by Tyson Foods

On June 30, 2014, it was announced that

had scrapped its sale to Hillshire Brands, which would allow Hillshire to be acquired by

. Pinnacle would receive a $163 million payment as part of the breakup from Hillshire, and Pinnacle would also receive an expected $25 million in one-time costs connected to the nixed sale.

Portfolio

Hillshire Brands was a manufacturer and marketer of packaged meat and frozen bakery products for the retail and foodservice markets, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of

. The company's portfolio of brands included

Jimmy Dean Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928 – June 13, 2010) was an American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became ...

Ball Park A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...

Hillshire Farm Hillshire Farm is an American brand of meat products marketed and owned by Hillshire Brands. The company was founded in 1934, and was purchased by Sara Lee Corporation in 1971. Friedrich (Fritz) Bernegger, (February 2, 1904 – April 30, 1988) ...

, Kahns, State Fair, Sara Lee, Chef Pierre Pies, Aidells, Gallo Salame and Golden Island Premium Jerky.

References

External links

* (Now redirects to Tyson Foods) {{Hillshire Food and drink companies based in Chicago Food manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in Chicago Food and drink companies established in 2012 Food and drink companies disestablished in 2014 American companies established in 2012 American companies disestablished in 2014 2012 establishments in Illinois 2014 disestablishments in Illinois Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 2014 mergers and acquisitions Tyson Foods Corporate spin-offs