The Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, known as the Wrigley Company, is an American multinational

chewing gum Chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed. Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/ plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating. Its t ...

(Wrigley's gum) company, based in the Global Innovation Center (GIC) in Goose Island, Chicago, Illinois. Wrigley's is wholly owned by

Mars, Incorporated Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest pri ...

, and, along with Mars chocolate bars and other candy products, makes up Mars Wrigley Confectionery. It is the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world. The company currently sells its products in over 180 countries and districts, operates in over 50 countries, and has 21 production facilities in 14 countries including the United States,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

, Colombia,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, China,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, Japan,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

, Australia, and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

History

The company was founded on April 1, 1891, in Chicago, Illinois by

William Wrigley Jr. William Mills Wrigley Jr. (September 30, 1861 – January 26, 1932) was an American chewing gum industrialist. He was founder of the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company in 1891. Biography William Mills Wrigley Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Penns ...

Wrigley's gum was traditionally made out of chicle, sourced largely from Latin America. In 1952, in response to

Decree 900 Decree 900 ( es, Decreto 900), also known as the Agrarian Reform Law, was a Guatemalan land-reform law passed on June 17, 1952, during the Guatemalan Revolution. The law was introduced by President Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán and passed by the Guatem ...

, land reforms attempting to end feudal working conditions for peasant farmers in Guatemala, Wrigley's discontinued purchasing chicle from that country. In the 1960s, Wrigley's changed the composition of its chewing gum from using chicle to synthetic rubber, which was cheaper to manufacture. Wrigley's announced the closure of its

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz ( Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a po ...

manufacturing plant in April 1996. The plant had been built in 1955. The 385,000-square-foot manufacturing facility was put on the market in October 1996 for US$11.3 million, or about $30 a square foot. In 2005, Wrigley purchased

Life Savers Life Savers (stylized as LifeSavers) is an American brand of ring-shaped hard and soft candy. Its range of mints and fruit-flavored candies is known for its distinctive packaging, coming in paper-wrapped aluminum foil rolls. Candy manufacturer ...

and Altoids from

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arran ...

for US$1.5 billion."Heritage Timeline"
Wrigley Company. Retrieved on September 25, 2012. On January 23, 2007, Wrigley signed a purchase agreement to acquire an 80% initial interest in A. Korkunov for $300 million with the remaining 20% to be acquired over time. On April 28, 2008,

announced that it would acquire Wrigley for approximately $23 billion. Financing for the transaction was provided by

Berkshire Hathaway Berkshire Hathaway Inc. () is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Its main business and source of capital is insurance, from which it invests the float (the retained premiu ...

, Goldman Sachs, and

JPMorgan JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the w ...

; Berkshire Hathaway held a minority equity investment in Wrigley until October 2016. The

Wrigley Building The Wrigley Building is a skyscraper located at 400–410 North Michigan Avenue on Chicago's Near North Side. It is located on the Magnificent Mile directly across Michigan Avenue from the Tribune Tower. Its two towers in an elaborate style wer ...

on Michigan Avenue, one of Chicago's best-known landmarks on the

Magnificent Mile The Magnificent Mile, sometimes referred to as The Mag Mile, is an upscale section of Chicago's Michigan Avenue, running from the Chicago River to Oak Street in the Near North Side. The district is located within downtown, and one block ...

, was originally the company's global headquarters until 2011, when it was sold to an investor group that included Zeller Realty Group as well as

Groupon Groupon is an American global e-commerce marketplace connecting subscribers with local merchants by offering activities, travel, goods and services in 13 countries. Based in Chicago, Groupon was launched there in November 2008, launching soon af ...

co-founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell. The company has been headquartered in the GIC since 2012. In 2016, Mars announced that Wrigley would be merged with its chocolate segment to form a new subsidiary, Mars Wrigley Confectionery. The new company will maintain global offices in Chicago, while moving its U.S. offices to New Jersey, in Hackettstown and Newark, respectively.

Corporate leadership

1891–1932: William Wrigley Jr.

Wrigley’s gum ad spearmint juicy fruit doublemint

In 1891, 29-year-old William Wrigley Jr. (1861–1932) came to Chicago from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

with $32 and the idea to start a business selling Wrigley's Scouring Soap. Wrigley offered premiums as an incentive to buy his soap, such as baking powder. Later in his career, he switched to the baking powder business, in which he began offering two packages of chewing gum for each purchase of a can of baking powder. The popular premium, chewing gum, began to seem more promising, prompting another switch in product focus. Wrigley also became the majority owner of the Chicago Cubs in 1921.

1932–1961: Philip K. Wrigley

After William Wrigley Jr. died, his son Philip K. Wrigley (1894–1977) assumed his father's position as CEO of the Wrigley Company. Wrigley is most well known for his unusual move to support US troops and protect the reputation of the Wrigley brand during World War II, in which he dedicated the entire output of Wrigley's Spearmint, Doublemint, and Juicy Fruit to the US Armed Forces. Wrigley launched the "Remember this Wrapper" ad campaign to keep the Wrigley brands on the minds of the customers during times of wartime rationing. Wrigley's P.K. brand was named after P.K. Wrigley.

1961–1999: William Wrigley III

In 1961, Philip K. Wrigley handed control to his son, William Wrigley III (1933–1999). Wrigley led a strategic global expansion by establishing Wrigley facilities in nine new countries. On June 26, 1974, a Marsh Supermarket in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

installed the first

bar code A barcode or bar code is a method of representing data in a visual, machine-readable form. Initially, barcodes represented data by varying the widths, spacings and sizes of parallel lines. These barcodes, now commonly referred to as linear or o ...

scanning equipment. The first product to be scanned using a

Universal Product Code The Universal Product Code (UPC or UPC code) is a barcode symbology that is widely used worldwide for tracking trade items in stores. UPC (technically refers to UPC-A) consists of 12 digits that are uniquely assigned to each trade item. Along wi ...

(UPC) bar code was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit gum. (This pack of gum is now on display at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

's National Museum of American History.) In 1984, Wrigley introduced a new gum, Extra, which followed the new trend of sugar-free gums in the US. Wrigley also assumed control of the Chicago Cubs after his father's death in 1977, and sold the team to the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' in 1981.

1999–2006: William Wrigley IV

William "Beau" Wrigley IV (1963–), following the death of Wrigley III (his father), led the sugar-free gum campaign across Europe, Australia, Spain, India, and China. In 2005, Kraft Foods sold the Life Savers and Altoids businesses to Wrigley in exchange for $1.5 billion as part of a reorganization plan. Wrigley helped establish the Wrigley Science Institute (WSI) in 2006 to study the oral health benefits of gum chewing. The WSI investigates the effects of gum chewing on weight management, stress relief, concentration, and oral health.

2006–2008: William Perez

On October 23, 2006, William D. Perez (1948–) succeeded Bill Wrigley as CEO, becoming the first person outside the Wrigley family to head the company. In 2007, the company debuted 5 Gum in the US. The 5 Gum brand was marketed using cinematic TV commercials portraying "How it feels to chew 5 Gum." Perez led the efforts of improving slimmer packaging (Slim Pack) with flavor improvements across both Extra and Wrigley brands.

2008–2011: Dushan "Duke" Petrovich

Dushan Petrovich (1954–) succeeded Perez almost immediately after Mars, Incorporated's 2008 purchase of Wrigley. In 2009, Wrigley's Global Innovation Center received the LEED Gold Certification through Wrigley's commitment to global sustainability. In the

2010 Olympic Games )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wrigley was the Official Confectionery Supplier of the games, in which the company sported Olympic-themed packs and products.

2011–2017: Martin Radvan

Martin Radvan became the president of the Wrigley Company after Petrovich. He is responsible for the company's worldwide strategy, operations, and business performance.

2017 to present: Andrew Clarke

Subsidiaries

* The Wrigley Company Limited * Amurol Confections Company * Northwestern Flavors, LLC

Changes in gum

In some countries,

xylitol Xylitol is a chemical compound with the formula , or HO(CH2)(CHOH)3(CH2)OH; specifically, one particular stereoisomer with that structural formula. It is a colorless or white crystalline solid that is freely soluble in water. It can be classifi ...

is used to sweeten gum instead of aspartame. By avoiding sugar, the chance of tooth decay is lowered, since the sugar otherwise used may turn into acid after chewing the gum. It is also claimed that in chewing, it may help to remove food residues. Xylitol-based products are allowed by the

US Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a federal agency of the Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the control and supervision of food ...

to make the medical claim that they do not promote dental cavities. Xylitol is fatal to dogs in small amounts.

New product

In 2013, Wrigley temporarily halted production and sales of its new Alert energy gum after the US

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

said it would investigate the safety of added caffeine in food products.

Brands

Gum

United States *

Juicy Fruit Juicy Fruit is an American brand of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company, a U.S. company that since 2008 has been a subsidiary of the privately held Mars, Incorporated. It was introduced in 1893, and in the 21st century the brand name is rec ...

(1893) *

Spearmint Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...

(1893) *

Doublemint Doublemint is a variety of chewing gum made by the Wrigley Company; according to early advertisements, it is "double strength" peppermint flavored. It was launched in the United States in 1914, and has had variable market share since then. Th ...

(1914) *

Freedent Freedent is a gum manufactured by Wrigley's. Freedent was first introduced in the US and UK in 1975 and is marketed as the gum that "won't stick to most dental work (or braces)." Freedent comes in three flavors: Peppermint, Spearmint, and Winte ...

(1975) * Big Red (1975) *

Hubba Bubba Hubba Bubba is a brand of bubble gum produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, a subsidiary of Mars, Incorporated. Introduced in the United States in 1979, the bubble gum got its name from the phrase "Hubba Hubba", which some military personnel in W ...

(1979) *

Extra Extra or Xtra may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film * ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film * ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film Literature * ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper * ''Extra!'', an American me ...

(1984) * Winterfresh (1994) *

Orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...

(reintroduced 2001) * Eclipse (2001) * 5 (2007) Wrigley's Gum 1920 Ad

Canada * 5 *

Excel ExCeL London (an abbreviation for Exhibition Centre London) is an exhibition centre, international convention centre and former hospital in the Custom House area of Newham, East London. It is situated on a site on the northern quay of the ...

* Excel Mist * Excel White *

* Extra Professional * Extra Professional White *

The Wrigley Company Ltd., Estover, Plymouth, UK * Airwaves *

* Altoids *

* Tunes *

Rondo The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period. Etymology The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round". Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...

– a mint flavored candy brand owned by Wrigley Company. It was, prior to 2008, a brand of parent company

Mars Incorporated Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest privat ...

. *

Wrigley's Spearmint Wrigley's Spearmint is a brand of Wrigley's chewing gum. Wrigley's launched the brand in 1893, and markets the gum as its ''classic'' brand, although the company's brand Juicy Fruit has been on the market slightly longer. As the name implies, the ...

Lockets Lockets are a confectionery produced by the Wrigley Company in the United Kingdom, UK and Czech Republic. They are sold as medicated supplement to help nasal congestion and sore throats. Flavours They are available in multiple flavours including ...

Additional products and brands * Altoids * Big Boy * Big G * Big League Chew (until November 2010) * Boomer *

Bubble Tape Bubble Tape is a type of Hubba Bubba bubble gum produced by Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, and introduced in 1988. It experienced its greatest popularity in the early 1990s, due to its unique packaging and direct marketing to preteen children ("it's si ...

* Cool Air * Eclipse *

* Gummi Savers * Life Saver Minis * Life Saver Fusions * Creme Savers * PimPom * P.K. * Skittles * Solano * Starburst *

Sugus Sugus is a brand of chewy candy manufactured by the Wrigley Company. It was created in 1931 by the Swiss chocolate company Suchard, which was later acquired by Kraft Foods in 1990. Wrigley acquired the candy business of Kraft Foods including the ...

* TaTa * Tunes

References

Alpine Gum

Alpine Gum was a gum made by Wrigley's, and was only sold in Canada. It is an alternative to

cough syrup Cold medicines are a group of medications taken individually or in combination as a treatment for the symptoms of the common cold and similar conditions of the upper respiratory tract. The term encompasses a broad array of drugs, including ...

. It cools the throat and relieves sore throat pain. Alpine was discontinued in 2005.

External links

* ** **
Company profile
at Yahoo! {{Authority control Mars, Incorporated Food and drink companies established in 1891 Confectionery companies of the United States Chewing gum Irish-American history 2008 mergers and acquisitions 1891 establishments in Illinois