Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2024

⏱️ 233 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

M&M’s, Snickers, Milky Way, Double Mint, Ben’s Rice, Pedigree, Whiskas, VCA, Banfield… all the brands you know, owned by the company you know nothing about: Mars, Incorporated. And Mars itself is 100% owned and deeply intertwined with the Mars family, who are currently the second wealthiest (and perhaps first most secretive!) family in the United States. Tune in for one of the 20th century’s most incredible entrepreneurial stories across candy and pet care, and one that’s all the more incredible because it’s so little-known!

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Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners:

Links:

Hershey’s M&M response: Hershey-ets
Our past episodes on Berkshire Hathaway, LVMH, and Novo Nordisk
Worldly Partners Multi-Decade Mars Study
Episode sources

Carve Outs:

Dandelion Chocolate and the Dandelion Advent Calendar
Tesla Model Y + repair service
Silo
Home Alone

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‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Okay, David, how many current varieties of M&Ms can you name?
0:04.4	Oh, wow.
0:05.3	Okay, well, plain, peanut, peanut butter.
0:08.0	Uh-huh.
0:08.4	Actually, plain is technically now called milk chocolate.
0:11.5	Oh, interesting.
0:12.8	There's dark, right?
0:14.5	Yep, which I've got right here.
0:16.4	They had mint for a while.
0:18.3	Did they discontinue mint?
0:19.6	Mint is a holiday only theme.
0:22.8	So that's a seasonal one.
0:25.1	Oh, what else?
0:28.1	I mean, at the end of the day, it's kind of only plain and peanut that matter, right?
0:31.8	I think in sales numbers.
0:33.6	Are there pretzel ones?
0:35.2	There are pretzel ones.
0:36.6	There are also almond.
0:39.7	Oh, almond.
0:40.5	See, yeah, I'm allergic to almonds, so I never think about almonds.
0:43.5	There's also some weird ones.
0:45.8	Carmel?
	...

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