Mars, maker of M&M’s and Snickers, strikes nearly $30 billion deal to buy Cheez-It owner Kellanova

M&M’s maker Mars has struck a deal worth nearly $30 billion to buy Kellanova, marking one of the food industry’s biggest deals and expanding the candy maker’s brand portfolio to include salty snacks such as Pringles and Cheez-It.

Kellanova was formed last year when the Kellogg Co. split into three companies. Kellanova sells many of the former company’s most profitable brands, including Eggo, Town House, MorningStar Farms and Rice Krispies Treats. It had net sales of more than $13 billion last year and has approximately 23,000 employees.

The acquisition would expand Mars’ reach into the salty snack category. The company owns brands like Combos and Uncle Ben’s, but it’s primarily known for its chocolates, candies and pet food. Mars makes M&M’s, Lifesavers, Juicy Fruit gum and Skittles as well as Pedigree and Royal Canin pet foods, among other products.

But sales of some of those products, like gum, have sputtered in recent years as snacking habits shift. The deal helps Mars expand into areas of growth.

“There is significant logic behind Mars acquiring Kellanova, not least because the deal would allow Mars to push more heavily into the savory snacks category where it has virtually no presence,” noted Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData. “Savory snacks sales are growing at a faster clip than confectionery, where Mars currently predominates.”

It is the biggest deal in the sector since J.M. Smucker bought Hostess for $5.6 billion last year, and among the largest of 2024, coming in second to ExxonMobil’s $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources.

“The Kellanova brands significantly expand our snacking platform, allowing us to even more effectively meet consumer needs and drive profitable business growth,” Andrew Clarke, global president of Mars Snacking, said in a statement.

Kellanova stock price

Mars Inc. said Wednesday that it will pay $83.50 per share in cash. The company put the total value of the transaction at $35.9 billion, including debt.

Shares of Kellanova jumped $5.50, or 7.4%, to $80.00 in Wednesday morning trading. Mars, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, is one of the largest privately held companies in the U.S.

Mars’ purchase of Kellanova is expected to close in the first half of next year. Once it’s complete, Kellanova will become part of Mars Snacking. Corporate headquarters will remain in Chicago.

The other company formed in the Kellogg split, WK Kellogg Co., retained cereal brands like Raisin Bran, Frosted Flakes and Froot Loops, which have struggled with slowing sales in recent years. It is not involved in the deal.

Consumer spending

The merger also may help Kellanova at a time when rising prices are squeezing consumers and putting many companies under pressure to put a cap on prices. Economists say that many consumers appear to be returning to pre-pandemic norms, when most companies felt they couldn’t raise prices very much without losing business.

Mars got its start in 1911, when founder Frank Mars started making and selling butter cream candy from his home in Tacoma, Washington. The company moved to Chicago in 1929 and introduced the Snickers bar the following year.

Mars has steadily grown through acquisitions. It entered the pet food business in 1935 with the purchase of a U.K. dog food brand and bought the Dove ice cream brand in 1986. In 2008, it purchased the Wrigley chewing gum business for $23 billion.