Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Monday, April 14th.

Today on Forbes, inside the epic battle between Danone and Lifeway Foods and its squabbling founding family.

Last September, Julie Smoliansky, the CEO of Kaffir brand Lifeway Foods,

saw an ominous email at 4 a.m. Chicago time from

Danone, the French-based dairy giant that had first invested in her father's business back in 1999

and currently owns just under 25%.

Danone was requesting a meeting in three hours. During the call, the executives revealed that they intended

to buy a controlling stake in the NASDAQ listed business, and they didn't seem to care much about

what Smoliansky thought about it. Smoliansky says, quote, I didn't even get the courtesy of

let's have lunch or let's talk. Smoliansky has run the fermented beverage business, a cousin of drinkable yogurt,

since 2002, and, along with her mother and brother, controls some 45% of Lifeway's stock.

She says, quote, I'm not going to be bullied. I'm not afraid. The phone call was the culmination

of years of acrimony between Smoliansky and Danone,

which Lifeway accuses of a host of nefarious behavior aimed at undermining the business,

including blocking the Illinois-based company from expanding internationally

and refusing to help its source cheaper raw ingredients.

Smoliansky also believes that Danone used their seat on Lifeway's board to access competitive

information and trade secrets after DeNone acquired Wallaby yogurt in 2017.

Denone denies these criticisms and says that Lifeway regularly utilized its right to shield

information from its board representative, though Lifeway didn't know

about the acquisition until it was announced publicly. Smoliansky contends that Lifeway has been

hamstrung for decades by her father's 1999 agreement with Danone, when the French company

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