Burger King ownership has changed hands several times over the years
By APThursday, September 2, 2010
A history of Burger King’s ownership
Burger King, the perennial No. 2 U.S. burger chain, has had a succession of owners in its 56-year history:
1954: Burger King Corp. founded in Miami by James McLamore and David Edgerton.
1957: The Whopper is born.
1959: Burger King begins franchising.
1967: The founders sell Burger King to baking giant Pillsbury. It has 275 restaurants at the time.
1989: Pillsbury and Burger King are acquired by British conglomerate Grand Metropolitan PLC, which became Diageo PLC in 1997 after combining with Guinness PLC.
2002: Diageo sells Burger King to a group of investors including TPG Capital, Bain Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs Funds for $1.5 billion.
2006: Burger King goes public in a $393 million initial public offering that valued the whole company at about $2.25 billion.
Sept. 2, 2010: Burger King agrees to be purchased by investment firm 3G Capital in a deal worth $3.26 billion excluding debt.
Source: Company history, AP research.
