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Ferrero International S.A.
Ferrero makes and sells chocolate and confectionery products, including Nutella, Kinder, and Ferrero Rocher, to consumers around the world.
Ferrero is the company behind those little foil-wrapped chocolates and the chocolate-hazelnut spread that many people eat straight from the jar. Its best-known brands are Nutella, Kinder, and Ferrero Rocher, and it sells them directly to shoppers through grocery stores everywhere.
What makes Ferrero interesting is how much money comes from small, everyday treats sold at modest prices. Kinder products sell children a little toy inside a chocolate egg. Nutella turns a simple formula of cocoa, hazelnut, and palm oil into a favorite breakfast spread. And Ferrero Rocher gives adults an affordable gift that feels special. The company earns money by selling these products at scale, mostly through supermarkets and stores, and spending lots on marketing that keeps them in your face. Ferrero is now the third-largest chocolate company in the world, behind Mars and Mondelez. It has grown by buying up brands it wanted: in 2015 it paid about $1 billion for the British chocolate maker Thorntons. In 2018 it bought Nestlé's U.S. candy business, which brought Butterfinger, Baby Ruth, and other brands into the family. And in 2024 it bought the well-known U.S. cookie brand Keebler from Kellanova. Those deals show how a compact privately held business from a small European country turned into a global player. One of the quieter facts is why it took on debt at all. The company wanted to buy brands and expand, so it borrowed money. But the sweetest story is the local one: Ferrero is a family business run by the Ferrero family. That gives it more patience than public companies that must please shareholders every quarter. It means the family can keep investing in its particular brands rather than chasing the latest financial benchmark.
Its main vulnerability is simple: it makes treats that people can choose not to buy when grocery bills are high. In the past that has hurt sales of expensive chocolates first. Competition from cheaper supermarket-own brands and from companies like Lindt is real. But a family that has kept Nutella and Kinder on shelves for years has shown it can stay relevant to people who want a little joy at a low price.
Saved answer · last researched 14 Nov 2026
BIG PICTURE
Ferrero Rocher holds just 2% of America's chocolate market, far behind Hershey and Mars
- 2% Ferrero Rocher
- 98% Other chocolate brands
In the 12 weeks to April 6 this year, Ferrero Rocher held 2% of the American chocolate market. Hershey's Kisses and Mars's M&M's each hold double-digit shares. The company that sells Nutella and Kinder built its name in Europe, and its gold-wrapped balls remain a small player in the world's biggest candy market. That gap is either a big opening or a sign of how differently Americans eat chocolate. Source: AInvest, data from 2026
Timeline
Two Brothers Start a Pastry Shop
After the war, chocolate was a luxury most people could not afford. In the family's small pastry shop in Alba, Italy, Pietro Ferrero — the tinkerer everyone called the scientist — hunted for a cheaper way to make something sweet, and landed on a recipe with less cocoa and plenty of local hazelnuts. His brother Giovanni, the salesman, built a national network to sell it across Italy. That hazelnut recipe, first sold as Super Crema, was the seed of everything that followed.
Ferrero Goes Abroad
A decade later, Ferrero opened a big production plant in Germany — the company's first site outside Italy. A second one soon followed in France, and from there the business spread across Europe and beyond, turning a small Italian shop into a company that sold in many countries.
Nutella Gets Its Name
Pietro's son Michele took his father's hazelnut recipe and relaunched it with new technology and a new name: Nutella. It became the company's signature product, the chocolate-hazelnut spread that made Ferrero famous around the world.
A Sudden Loss in the Family
Pietro Jr., who had run the company side by side with his brother Giovanni, died suddenly at just 47 after a heart attack. Giovanni became the sole leader, and a few years later took the roles of executive chairman and majority owner. Leadership now rested on one set of shoulders.
Ferrero Starts Buying Companies
For most of its history Ferrero grew by inventing its own products. That changed when it made two big purchases: a leading hazelnut supplier in Turkey, and the British chocolate maker Thorntons. Buying outside companies became a new way to grow, and it would keep growing.
First CEO From Outside the Family
Lapo Civiletti became the first person outside the Ferrero family to run the company as CEO, while Giovanni moved up to executive chairman to focus on the long term. The goal set was huge: double the size of the business in under a decade. And it actually happened.
Ferrero Buys Nestlé's US Candy
Ferrero spent billions to buy Nestlé's American confectionery business, picking up brands like Butterfinger, Baby Ruth and Crunch. The deal did two things at once: it gave Ferrero factories in the United States, and it put its products on far more American shelves.
Salmonella Hits Kinder
A salmonella outbreak traced to Kinder Surprise eggs forced recalls across Europe, Canada and the US. Belgian authorities shut down the Kinder factory in Arlon suspected as the source. For a company built on sweet treats children love, it was a serious blow to trust.
Ferrero Enters Breakfast Cereal
Ferrero agreed to buy WK Kellogg for about three billion dollars, stepping into the American breakfast cereal market with brands like Froot Loops and Special K. The deal added thousands of employees and pushed the company's workforce past fifty thousand people.
Two Leaders for a Bigger Ferrero
Ferrero split its leadership into two roles, both reporting to Giovanni. One boss runs the core sweet business — confectionery, biscuits, bakery and better-for-you foods — while the other leads ice cream and the newly bought cereal business. The change was a quiet way of admitting what the company had become: a global leader in sweet packaged food, not just a chocolate maker.