BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — The Kellogg Company is splitting its business into two companies that will focus on their North American cereal business and global snacking.
The Battle Creek-based company announced the names for its new ventures on Wednesday and hopes to have the split finalized by the end of 2023.
The North American cereal business will be named WK Kellogg Co and will focus on the U.S., Canadian and Caribbean markets.
The new company will include iconic brands like Kellogg's, Frosted Flakes, Froot Loops, Mini-Wheats, Special K, Raisin Bran, Rice Krispies, Corn Flakes, Kashi and Bear Naked.
"The name WK Kellogg Co honors the legacy of founder W.K. Kellogg, celebrating his spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship. At the same time, we are looking forward, focused on propelling the company into the future. We eliminated the use of periods in the name to signal the start of a new, unwritten chapter," said Gary Pilnick, Chief Executive Officer Designate of WK Kellogg Co.
"The logo itself stems from the iconic signature of Mr. Kellogg. We have taken his instantly recognizable script and then underlined and elevated the 'Co,' emphasizing our ambition as a 117-year-old start-up taking Mr. Kellogg's original company to new heights," Pilnick added.
Their global snacking company will be named Kellanova and will focus on their global snack brands, international cereals and noodles, plant-based foods and North American frozen breakfast foods.
Kellanova will include popular brands like Pringles, Cheez-It, Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's Rice Krispies Treats, MorningStar Farms, Incogmeato, Gardenburger, Nutri-Grain, RXBAR and Eggo.
"The name Kellanova signals the Company's ambition for the future, building on the strong brand equity and legacy built over the past 117 years as Kellogg Company," said Steve Cahillane, Kellogg Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and future Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kellanova.
"The 'Kell' overtly recognizes our enduring connection to Kellogg Company, while 'anova,' which combines 'a' and the Latin word 'nova,' meaning 'new,' signals our ambition to continuously evolve as an innovative, next generation, global snacking powerhouse. The Kellanova logo retains the iconic Kellogg Company 'K' to intentionally connect to our heritage and the strong foundation that got us to where we are today. The forward curved and extended 'v' embodies our forward momentum as we embark on this next chapter," Cahillane explained.
Kellogg asked employees to submit company name suggestions, which were used to create the new company names. About 20% of employee submissions used variations of "W.K. Kellogg" for the North American cereal business and other employees submissions that included "nova" were used as inspiration for the global snacking business.
The company announced that Kellanova will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "K." The ticker for WK Kellogg Co will be announced later this year.
The announcement of the two new company names comes just a month after Kellogg scraped its plan to split into three new companies, which they originally announced in June of 2022.
The third planned company, which was going to be a plant-based food company with its leading brand being Morning Star Farms, will now be included in the Kellanova company.
Kellogg announced its plans to scrap the plant-based food company during its Q4 Earnings Report in February.
"After exploring strategic options, the Company [Kellanova] has decided to retain its plant-based business, which represents 2% of net sales and offers strong long-term growth prospects," Kellogg said in its earnings report.
Kellogg shared an infographic of the company's planned split here:
You can stay up to date with the company's transition to WK Kellogg Co and Kellanova at UnleashingOurPotential.com.
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