Noted nut purveyors Diamond Foods, based in San Francisco, plan to purchase Procter & Gamble's Pringles for $1.5 billion. And we couldn't be prouder. Pringles are the best selling snack chip in the U.S. and U.K. Plus, they're doused in salt and thus super tasty.
“Pringles is an iconic, billion dollar snack brand with significant global manufacturing and supply chain infrastructure,” said Michael J. Mendes, Chairman, President and CEO of Diamond Foods, in a press release. “Our plan is to build upon the brand equity Pringles has established in over 140 countries. This strategic combination will create an independent, global leader in the snack industry with a focus on quality and innovative products. Not only is this combination immediately accretive, it also creates a platform that we believe will allow us to build shareholder value for years to come."
The purchase will more than triple the size of Diamond’s snack business. (Does this mean our corner store will finally re-stock reduced salt Pringles? We hope so. It's been well over a year. Ugh.)
"The Pringles brand is more than four decades old and is sold in more than 140 countries, with manufacturing plants in the U.S., Europe and Asia. It has continued to add flavors based on region, including mozzarella stick and marinara in North America, prawn cocktail in Europe, jalapeno in Latin America and seaweed in Asia," reports Associated Press. "Pringles has also rolled out variations of the product, including Pringles Baked Stix in 2006, Pringles 100-calorie packs in 2007 and Pringles multigrain in 2009."
The deal will be done by year's end.
Below, a dubbed video showing how Chip Flix, a presumably inferior Pringles derivative, are made: