The Story of General Mills The General Mills company, for which I was assigned, has proven to be a worthwhile investment pursuit as it holds much of the market share of its "niche, ” which are breakfast cereals and the like. In conducting the necessary research to find out whether a potential investor might gain interest in General Mills, we discover a myriad of things by drawing our attention to the spreadsheet, which contains the information we need to draw conclusions, we can see patterns developing over a 5 or 10 year period involving things like: stock price, EPS, ROI and many more. The following will provide, among other things, some insights into the History of General Mills. Its history dates back to 1866, General Mills is one of America's largest food companies, employing 10,000 people worldwide and generating more than $5 billion in sales annually. Responsible for some of America's most popular foods, General Mills produces and distributes staples such as Betty Crocker cake mix, Medaglia d'Oro flour, Bisquick pancake mix, Yoplait yogurt and Popsecret popcorn. The company also makes breakfast cereals, including Cheerios, Trix, Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs. Its common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange using the symbol GIS. General Mills' original name was Washburn Crosby Company, which created the legendary Twin Cities television station WCCO. The founders of the Washburn Crosby Company included Cadwallader MP Colden Washburn. In 1990, General Mills and Nestlé started a 50/50 joint venture called Cereal Partners Worldwide to market breakfast cereals for both the United States and Europe. CPW distributes cereals produced by both companies under the Nestlé brand. Shortly before that, in 1988, General Mills sold General Mills Specialty Retail Group, which was the parent company of both Eddie Bauer and Talbots. Eddie Bauer is now deceased. The company merged with Pillsbury in 2001. Although many of the Pillsbury-branded products are still manufactured by General Mills, some products had to be sold to allow for the merger as the new company would have a very strong monopoly position.