Danone

Danone S.A. is a French multinational food-products corporation based in Paris and founded in Barcelona, Spain. The company is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of the company's products are branded Dannon in the United States. As of 2018, Danone sold products in 120 markets and had sales in 2017 of €24.7 billion. In the first half of 2018, 29% of sales came from specialized nutrition, 19% came from waters, and 52% came from dairy and plant-based products.

Danone was founded by Isaac Carasso, a Sephardic Jewish doctor, who began producing yogurt in Barcelona, Spain in 1919. The brand was named Danone, which translates to "little Daniel," after his son Daniel Carasso.

In 1929, Isaac Carasso moved the company from Spain to France, opening a plant in Paris. In 1942, Daniel Carasso moved the company to New York. In the United States, Daniel Carasso partnered with the Swiss-born Spaniard Juan Metzger and changed the brand name to Dannon to sound more American.

In 1951, Daniel Carasso returned to Paris to manage the family's businesses in France and Spain, and the American business was sold to Beatrice Foods in 1959; it was repurchased by Danone in 1981. In Europe in 1967, Danone merged with Gervais, the leading fresh cheese producer in France, and became Gervais Danone. In 1973, the company merged with bottle maker BSN. The company changed its name to Groupe Danone in 1983.

Danone has made three investments. One of their investments was on Jan 16, 2019, when they invested ₹1.8B in Drums Food International. Danone has had one exit, which was Avantium Technologies. Danone has 12 sub-organizations, including The Dannon Company, Inc., NV DANONE SA, and NUTRICIA Zaklady Produkcyjne Sp. z.o.o.. moi. Danone has acquired 11 organizations. One of them was WhiteWave Foods on Jul 7, 2016. They acquired WhiteWave Foods for $12.5B. Danone has $28.7B in estimated revenue annually. Danone competes with Royal FrieslandCampina, General Mills, and Bel Group.