At the end of March, Gary Hirshberg experienced a bit of a culture shock.
The cofounder of Stonyfield Farm Yogurt was preparing for the company’s 34th anniversary when its corporate parent, the dairy giant Danone Group, dropped a bombshell. It was putting Stonyfield up for sale.
The reason: In its quest to acquire more of the natural foods that Stonyfield had popularized, Danone had spent $10 billion to purchase WhiteWave Foods, the maker of Horizon Organic milk and Silk soy milk. But in doing so, it had raised red flags for the Department of Justice, which worried about a monopoly in the organic milk market. Danone will be forced to sell Stonyfield in the coming days, or face antitrust action.
Hirshberg was crestfallen. The Londonderry, N.H., company had played a key role in fueling Americans’ appetite for yogurt, and after three decades, it had become the top-selling organic yogurt in the country, its reputation as a mission-driven company on par with Ben & Jerry’s.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Boston Globe
