Acquired - Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)

Mars Inc. (the chocolate story)

12/16/24 • 233 min

2 Listeners

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.

Sponsors:

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

More Acquired:

Get email updates with hints on next episode and follow-ups from recent episodes
Join the Slack
Subscribe to ACQ2
Check out the latest swag in the ACQ Merch Store!

Previous Episode

IKEA

1 Recommendations

IKEA may be the most singular company we’ve ever studied on Acquired. They’re a globally scaled, $50B annual revenue company with no direct competitors — yet have only ~5% market share. They’re one of the largest retailers in the world — yet sell only their own products. They generate a few billion in free cash flow every year — yet have no shareholders. And oh yeah, they also sell hot dogs cheaper than Costco! (Sort of.)

Tune in for an episode flat-packed with counterintuitive lessons about how this folksy mail order business from the Swedish countryside came into your living rooms (and bedrooms and dining rooms and kitchens and bathrooms and patios and garages and backyards) all over the globe!

Sponsors:

Many thanks to our fantastic Fall ‘24 Season partners:

Links:

Please take our 2024 Acquired Survey if you have a minute. It'd mean the world to us!
The Testament of a Furniture Dealer
Our past episodes on Costco, Walmart, Amazon, LVMH and Hermès
Worldly Partners Multi-Decade IKEA Study
Episode sources

Carve Outs:

More Acquired:

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Next Episode

TSMC (Remastered)

We dive into the unbelievable and unlikely history behind the quietest technology giant of them all: the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Founded in 1987 by the then-56 year old Morris Chang, already a legend in the semiconductor industry by virtue of his meteoric rise and fall at Texas Instruments, TSMC today manufactures nearly all the leading-edge chips for Nvidia, Apple, Broadcom, Qualcomm, AMD, and yes — even Intel. Tune in for an incredible story of innovation, perseverance and lasers. Lots and lots of lasers!

Note: this is a remastered version of our original 2021 episode. We don’t often re-release old episodes, but in this case we have a very timely reason for doing so. Stay tuned! :)

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Many thanks to our fantastic partners:

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