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Kellogg Company
Type
Public
Traded as
  • NYSE: K
  • S&P 500 Component
Industry Food processing
Founded February 19, 1906; 111 years ago (1906-02-19)
Battle Creek, Michigan, United States
Founder Will Keith Kellogg
Headquarters Battle Creek, Michigan, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
John A. Bryant
(Chairman and CEO)
Steven Cahillane
(Incoming CEO)
Products
  • Cereals
  • Cookies
  • Crackers
  • Toaster pastries
  • Cereal bars
  • Fruit-flavored snacks
  • Frozen waffles
  • Vegetarian foods
Brands Eggo
Gardenburger
Pringles
Sunshine Biscuits
Revenue

Increase US$ 14.792 billion (2013)

IncreaseUS$14.8 billion (2014)
Operating income
Increase US$ 1.562 billion (2012)
Net income
Increase US$ 1.807 billion (2013)
Total assets Increase US$ 15.474 billion (2013)
Total equity Increase US$ 3.607 billion (2013)
Number of employees
33,577 (2016)
Subsidiaries Kashi
Keebler Company
Bear Naked, Inc.
Website
  • kelloggs.com
  • kelloggcompany.com

Increase US$ 14.792 billion (2013)

The Kellogg Company (also Kellogg's, Kellogg, and Kellogg's of Battle Creek) is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit-flavored snacks, frozen waffles, and vegetarian foods. The company's brands include Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Rice Krispies, Special K, Cocoa Krispies, Keebler, Pringles, Pop-Tarts, Kashi, Cheez-It, Eggo, Nutri-Grain, Morningstar Farms, and many more. Kellogg's stated purpose is "Nourishing families so they can flourish and thrive."

Kellogg's products are manufactured in 18 countries and marketed in over 180 countries. Kellogg's largest factory is at Trafford Park in Trafford, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom, which is also the location of its European headquarters. Kellogg's holds a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales.

Kellogg's was founded as the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906, by Will Keith Kellogg as an outgrowth of his work with his brother John Harvey Kellogg at the Battle Creek Sanitarium following practices based on the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The company produced and marketed the hugely successful Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flakes and was renamed the Kellogg Company in 1922.

In 1930, the Kellogg Company announced that most of its factories would shift towards 30-hour work weeks, from the usual 40. W.K. Kellogg stated that he did this so that an additional shift of workers would be employed in an effort to support people through the depression era. This practice remained until World War II, and continued briefly after the war, although some departments and factories remained locked into 30-hour work weeks until 1980.

From 1969 to 1977, Kellogg's acquired various small businesses including Salada Foods, Fearn International, Mrs. Smith's Pies, Eggo, and Pure Packed Foods; however, it was later criticized for not diversifying further like General Mills and Quaker Oats were. After underspending its competition in marketing and product development, Kellogg's U.S. market share hit a low 36.7% in 1983. A prominent Wall Street analyst called it "a fine company that's past its prime" and the cereal market was being regarded as "mature". Such comments stimulated Kellogg chairman William E. LaMothe to improve, which primarily involved approaching the demographic of 80 million baby boomers rather than marketing children-oriented cereals. In emphasizing cereal's convenience and nutritional value, Kellogg's helped persuade U.S. consumers age 25 to 49 to eat 26% more cereal than people of that age ate five years prior. The U.S. ready-to-eat cereal market, worth $3.7 billion at retail in 1983, totaled $5.4 billion by 1988 and had expanded three times as fast as the average grocery category. Kellogg's also introduced new products including Crispix, Raisin Squares, and Nutri-Grain Biscuits and reached out internationally with Just Right aimed at Australians and Genmai Flakes for Japan. During this time, the company maintained success over its top competitors: General Mills, which largely marketed children's cereals, and Post, which had difficulty in the adult cereal market.

In March 2001, Kellogg's made its largest acquisition, the Keebler Company. Over the years, it has also gone on to acquire Morningstar Farms and Kashi divisions or subsidiaries. Kellogg's also owns the Bear Naked, Natural Touch, Cheez-It, Murray, Austin cookies and crackers, Famous Amos, Gardenburger (acquired 2007), and Plantation brands. Presently, Kellogg's is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation.

In 2012, Kellogg's became the world's second-largest snack food company (after PepsiCo) by acquiring the Pringles potato crisps brand from Procter & Gamble for $2.7 billion in a cash deal.

A list of cereal products produced by Kellogg's, with available varieties:

Various methods have been used in the company's history to promote the company and its brands. Foremost among these is the design of the Kellogg's logo by Ferris Crane under the art direction of famed type guru Y. Ames. Another was the well-remembered jingle "K E double-L, O double-good, Kellogg's best to you!"

Kellogg's was a major sponsor throughout the run of the hit CBS panel show What's My Line? It and its associated products Frosted Flakes and Rice Krispies were also major sponsors for the PBS Kids children's animated series Dragon Tales.

Kellogg's is a sponsor of USA Gymnastics and produces the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics, a 36-city tour held after the Olympic games and featuring performances by recent medal-winning gymnasts from the United States.

W.K. Kellogg was the first to introduce prizes in boxes of cereal. The marketing strategy that he established has produced thousands of different cereal box prizes that have been distributed by the tens of billions.

Kellogg's Corn Flakes had the first cereal premium with The Funny Jungleland Moving Pictures Book. The book was originally available as a prize that was given to the customer in the store with the purchase of two packages of the cereal. But in 1909, Kellogg's changed the book giveaway to a premium mail-in offer for the cost of a dime. Over 2.5 million copies of the book were distributed in different editions over a period of 23 years.

In 1945, Kellogg's inserted a prize in the form of pin-back buttons into each box of Pep cereal. Pep pins have included U.S. Army squadrons as well as characters from newspaper comics and were available through 1947. There were five series of comic characters and 18 different buttons in each set, with a total of 90 in the collection. Other manufacturers of major brands of cereal, including General Mills, Malt-O-Meal, Nestlé, Post Foods, and Quaker Oats, followed suit and inserted prizes into boxes of cereal to promote sales and brand loyalty.

Licensed brands have been omitted since the corresponding mascots would be obvious (e.g. Spider-Man is the mascot for Spider-Man Spidey-Berry).

Kellogg's made its first foray into auto racing between 1991 and 1992 when the company sponsored the #41 Chevrolets fielded by Larry Hedrick Motorsports in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and driven by Phil Parsons, Dave Marcis, Greg Sacks, Hut Stricklin, and Richard Petty, but they gained greater prominence for their sponsorship of 2-time Winston Cup Champion Terry Labonte from 1993 to 2006, the last 12 years of that as the sponsor for Hendrick Motorsports' #5 car. Kellogg's sponsored the #5 for Labonte, Kyle Busch, Casey Mears, and Mark Martin until 2010, and it then served as an associate sponsor for Carl Edwards' #99 car for Roush Fenway Racing.

Kellogg's placed Dale Earnhardt on Kellogg's Corn Flakes boxes for 1993 six-time Winston Cup champ and 1994 seven-time Winston Cup champ, as well as Jeff Gordon on the Mini Wheats box for the 1993 rookie of the year, 1995 Brickyard 400 inaugural race, 1997 Champion, and 1998 three-time champ, and a special three-pack racing box set with Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Terry Labonte, and Dale Jarrett in 1996.

Kellogg's has used some merchandising for their products. Kellogg's once released Mission Nutrition, a PC game that came free with special packs of cereal. It played in a similar fashion as Donkey Kong Country; users could play as Tony the Tiger, Coco the Monkey, or Snap, Crackle, and Pop. Kellogg's has also released "Talking" games. The two current versions are Talking Tony and Talking Sam. In these games, a microphone is used to play games and create voice commands for their computers. In Talking Tony, Tony the Tiger, one of Kellogg's most famous mascots, would be the main and only character in the game. In Talking Sam, Toucan Sam, another famous mascot, would be in the game, instead. Some [toy cars] have the Kellogg's logo on them, and occasionally their mascots.

There was also a Talking Snap Crackle and Pop software.

Some of Kellogg's marketing has been questioned in the press, prompted by an increase in consumer awareness of the mismatch between the marketing messages and the products themselves.

Food bloggers are also questioning the marketing methods used by cereal manufacturing companies such as Kellogg's, due to their high sugar content and use of ingredients such as high-fructose corn syrup.

Kellogg's donated around US$2 million opposing California Proposition 37, a 2012 ballot initiative that, if enacted, would have required compulsory labeling of genetically engineered food products.

On June 25, the company voluntarily began to recall about 28 million boxes of Apple Jacks, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks because of an unusual smell and flavor from the packages' liners that could make people ill. Kellogg's said about 20 people complained about the cereals, including five who reported nausea and vomiting. Consumers reported the cereal smelled or tasted waxy or like metal or soap. Company spokeswoman J. Adaire Putnam said some described it as tasting stale. However, no serious health problems have been reported.

The suspected chemical that caused the illnesses was 2-methylnaphthalene, used in the cereal packaging process. Little is known about 2-methylnaphthalene's impact on human health as the Food and Drug Administration has no scientific data on its impact on humans, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also does not have health and safety data. This is despite the EPA having sought information on it from the chemical industry for 16 years. 2-Methylnaphthalene is a component of crude oil and is "structurally related to naphthalene, an ingredient in mothballs and toilet-deodorant blocks" that the EPA considers a possible human carcinogen.

Kellogg's offered consumers refunds in the meantime. Only products with the letters "KN" following the use-by date were included in the recall. The products were distributed throughout the U.S. and began arriving in stores in late March 2010. Products in Canada were not affected.

Kellogg's issued a voluntary recall of some of its "Frosted Mini-Wheats Bite Size Original" and "Mini-Wheats Unfrosted Bite Size" products due to the possibility of flexible metal mesh fragments in the food. The affected products varied in size from single-serving bowls to large 70-ounce cartons. Use-by dates printed on the recalled packages ranged from April 1, 2013, to September 21, 2013, and were accompanied by the letters KB, AP or FK.

On June 3, 2010, Kellogg's was found to be making unsubstantiated and misleading claims in advertising their cereal products by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Kellogg's responded by stating "We stand behind the validity of our product claims and research, so we agreed to an order that covers those claims. We believe that the revisions to the existing consent agreement satisfied any remaining concerns."

The FTC had previously found fault with Kellogg's claims that Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal improved kids' attentiveness by nearly 20%.

The Children's Advertising Review Unit of the Council of Better Business Bureaus has also suggested that the language on Kellogg Pop-Tarts packages saying the pastries are "Made with Real Fruit" should be taken off the products. In July 2012, the UK banned a "Special K" advertisement due to its citing caloric values that did not take into account the caloric value of milk consumed with the cereal. In 2016 an ad telling UK consumers that Special K is “full of goodness” and “nutritious” was banned.

In January 2012, Kellogg's gave the Calhoun School a $250,000 grant for a "three-part youth-based project on issues of white privilege and institutionalized racism". In August 2014, Kellogg's called on the President to support the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2016, Kellogg Company urged President-elect Donald Trump to "continue the Paris Climate Agreement". Kellogg's has donated to notable groups opposing voter-ID laws, such as the Applied Research Center (now RaceForward). The company also decided to remove their advertisements from the Breitbart News website. Breitbart News in turn called for a boycott of Kellogg's products.

According to Amnesty International in 2016, Kellogg's palm oil provider Wilmar International profited from 8 to 14-year-old child labor and forced labor. Some workers were extorted, threatened or not paid for work. Some workers suffered severe injuries from chemicals such as Paraquat. Kellogg's alleged not being aware of the child abuses due to traceability; Amnesty's human rights director replied that "Using mealy-mouthed excuses about 'traceability' is a total cop-out."

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Q reports

Period Date Adjusted Actuals EPS GAAP EPS
Q4 2022 2023-02-09 Future report Set alerts
Q3 2022 2022-11-03 1.01 1.01
Q2 2022 2022-08-04 1.18 1.18
Q1 2022 2022-05-05 1.10 1.10
Q4 2021 2022-02-10 0.83 0.83
Q3 2021 2021-11-04 1.09 1.09
Q2 2021 2021-08-05 1.14 1.14
Q1 2021 2021-05-06 1.11 1.11
Q4 2020 2021-02-11 0.86 0.86
Q3 2020 2020-10-29 0.91 0.91

Ratings

2016-07-06 Reiterated Rating Credit Suisse Group AG Outperform
2016-05-14 Reiterated Rating Bank of America Sell
2016-05-14 Reiterated Rating Bank of America Corp. Sell
2016-05-09 Reiterated Rating Sanford C. Bernstein Market Perform $77.00 to $76.00
2016-05-04 Reiterated Rating Susquehanna Hold
2016-04-14 Boost Price Target Citigroup Inc. Buy $84.00 to $90.00
2016-04-06 Boost Price Target Credit Suisse Outperform $82.00 to $86.00
2016-04-06 Boost Price Target Credit Suisse Group AG Outperform $82.00 to $86.00
2016-03-27 Reiterated Rating Credit Suisse Buy
2016-03-16 Upgrade Goldman Sachs Sell to Neutral $67.00 to $80.00
2016-03-16 Upgrade Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sell to Neutral $67.00 to $80.00
2016-02-17 Lower Price Target Nomura Buy $80.00 to $78.00
2016-02-17 Lower Price Target Nomura Holdings Inc. Buy $80.00 to $78.00
2016-02-13 Reiterated Rating RBC Capital Hold
2016-02-13 Reiterated Rating Royal Bank Of Canada Hold
2016-02-10 Boost Price Target RBC Capital Sector Perform $72.00 to $74.00
2016-02-08 Boost Price Target Deutsche Bank Hold $69.00 to $70.00
2016-02-08 Boost Price Target Deutsche Bank AG Hold $69.00 to $70.00
2016-01-27 Boost Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. $72.00 to $73.00
2016-01-22 Reiterated Rating Nomura Buy $80.00
2016-01-20 Reiterated Rating Susquehanna Neutral $74.00
2016-01-12 Boost Price Target Nomura Buy $72.00 to $80.00
2016-01-08 Upgrade Credit Agricole Underperform to Outperform
2016-01-08 Upgrade Credit Agricole SA Underperform to Outperform
2016-01-07 Upgrade CLSA Underperform to Outperform $79.00
2016-01-07 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Hold $66.00 to $69.00
2016-01-07 Upgrade Credit Agricole Underperform to Outperform $79.00
2015-12-08 Upgrade Morgan Stanley Underweight to Equal Weight $65.00 to $69.00
2015-12-03 Reiterated Rating Argus Hold
2015-11-30 Reiterated Rating Nomura Buy
2015-11-24 Reiterated Rating Nomura Buy
2015-11-23 Upgrade Credit Suisse Neutral to Outperform $72.00 to $76.00
2015-11-12 Boost Price Target Societe Generale Hold $69.00 to $73.00
2015-11-10 Lower Price Target Nomura Buy $73.00 to $72.00
2015-11-04 Upgrade Credit Suisse Underperform to Neutral $66.00 to $72.00
2015-11-03 Initiated Coverage Susquehanna Hold $74.00
2015-11-02 Reiterated Rating RBC Capital Hold $72.00
2015-10-26 Initiated Coverage Susquehanna Neutral $75.00
2015-10-19 Initiated Coverage Buckingham Research Buy $80.00
2015-09-16 Boost Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. Neutral $67.00 to $72.00
2015-08-06 Boost Price Target Nomura Buy $65.00 to $73.00
2015-08-05 Reiterated Rating S&P Equity Research Hold $69.00
2015-08-05 Upgrade Citigroup Inc. Neutral to Buy $66.00 to $80.00
2015-08-05 Upgrade Societe Generale Sell to Hold $69.00
2015-08-05 Boost Price Target RBC Capital Sector Perform $66.00 to $72.00
2015-07-20 Boost Price Target Nomura Buy $63.00 to $65.00
2015-06-01 Boost Price Target Deutsche Bank Hold $63.00 to $64.00
2015-05-06 Lower Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. Neutral $66.00 to $64.00
2015-02-19 Set Price Target Nomura Buy $74.00
2015-02-13 Lower Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. Neutral $67.00 to $62.00
2015-02-13 Lower Price Target Citigroup Inc. Neutral $71.00 to $66.00
2015-02-13 Downgrade Societe Generale Hold to Sell $65.00 to $60.00
2015-02-13 Reiterated Rating RBC Capital Hold $71.00 to $66.00
2015-02-06 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Hold $65.00
2015-01-13 Reiterated Rating Nomura Buy $69.00 to $74.00
2015-01-12 Downgrade Citigroup Inc. Buy to Neutral
2014-10-31 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Hold $63.00 to $65.00
2014-10-31 Reiterated Rating Credit Suisse Underperform $58.00 to $62.00
2014-09-30 Downgrade Morgan Stanley Equal Weight to Underweight $59.00 to $8.00
2014-09-17 Downgrade Societe Generale Buy to Hold $68.50 to $66.00
2014-09-08 Boost Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. $62.00 to $65.00
2014-08-01 Lower Price Target Nomura Buy $71.00 to $69.00
2014-07-15 Downgrade Goldman Sachs Neutral to Sell $64.00 to $59.00
2014-07-14 Boost Price Target Nomura $70.00 to $71.00
2014-06-02 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Hold $64.00 to $66.00
2014-05-02 Reiterated Rating Credit Suisse Underperform $60.00
2014-04-28 Boost Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. Neutral $57.00 to $62.00
2014-04-28 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Buy $63.00 to $64.00
2014-04-09 Initiated Coverage Nomura Buy $70.00
2014-03-10 Boost Price Target JPMorgan Chase & Co. Neutral $55.00 to $57.00
2014-02-07 Lower Price Target Jefferies Group $63.00 to $62.00
2014-02-07 Upgrade Goldman Sachs Underperform to Neutral $58.00 to $55.00
2014-02-07 Upgrade JPMorgan Chase & Co. Underweight to Neutral $58.00 to $55.00
2014-02-03 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Hold $63.00 to $64.00
2014-01-31 Initiated Coverage Societe Generale Buy
2014-01-30 Initiated Coverage Societe Generale Buy
2013-11-26 Initiated Coverage RBC Capital Sector Perform $64.00
2013-11-15 Downgrade Barclays Equal Weight to Underweight $62.00
2013-11-05 Reiterated Rating Jefferies Group Hold $62.00 to $68.00
2013-11-05 Downgrade Deutsche Bank Buy to Hold $68.00 to $65.00
2013-10-29 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Buy $68.00
2013-10-21 Downgrade Bank of America Buy to Underperform $69.00 to $62.00
2013-10-02 Reiterated Rating Deutsche Bank Buy $73.00 to $68.00
2013-09-17 Downgrade Goldman Sachs Neutral to Underweight $65.00 to $58.00
2013-09-17 Downgrade JPMorgan Chase & Co. Neutral to Underweight $65.00 to $58.00
2011-11-10 Downgrade Deutsche Bank Buy to Hold $60 to $50
2011-02-24 Reiterated Deutsche Bank Buy $57 to $60
2011-02-04 Upgrade Argus Sell to Hold
2010-11-04 Downgrade Argus Hold to Sell
2016-07-06 Reiterated Rating Credit Suisse Group AG Outperform
2016-05-14 Reiterated Rating Bank of America Sell
2016-05-14 Reiterated Rating Bank of America Corp. Sell
2016-05-09 Reiterated Rating Sanford C. Bernstein Market Perform $77.00 to $76.00
2016-05-04 Reiterated Rating Susquehanna Hold

There is presents forecasts of rating agencies and recommendations for investors about this ticker

Major Shareholders

Name Relationship Total Shares Holding stocks
KELLOGG W K FOUNDATION TRUST 18.55%  (66816838) K /
BRYANT JOHN A President and CEO 0.04%  (132242) K / M /
Norman Paul T Senior Vice President 0.02%  (75856) K /
PILNICK GARY H Senior Vice President 0.02%  (56462) K /
GUND GORDON 0.01%  (30652) K /
DILLON JOHN T 0.01%  (30384) K /
Hirst Alistair D SVP - Global Supply Chain 0.01%  (25633) K /
Dissinger Ronald L Chief Financial Officer 0.01%  (22818) K /
BANATI AMIT Senior Vice President 0.01%  (21611) K /
REBOLLEDO ROGELIO 0.01%  (21201) CLX / K /
MEJIA MARIA FERNANDA Senior Vice President 0.01%  (18546) K /