Wrigley's First Product Might Surprise You
In 1891, William Wrigley Jr. wasn’t selling gum. He was selling soap and baking powder.
To sweeten the deal, he tossed in sticks of chewing gum as a free gift. Customers loved the gum more than the products they paid for, so Wrigley ditched soap and baking powder altogether.
Over a century later, in 2008, Mars, Inc. bought the gum giant in a deal worth about $23 billion, cementing one of the biggest candy takeovers in history.
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