Danone

Danone is a multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It has four business lines: Fresh Dairy products, Waters, Early Life Nutrition and Medical Nutrition. In the United States it is marketed as the Dannon Company. The company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index.

In 2014, Fresh dairy products represent 52% of the group's total sales, Early Life Nutrition 21%, Waters 20% and Medical Nutrition 7%.

History

Name

The original company bearing the corporate name was founded in 1919 by Isaac Carasso, a Sephardi Jewish migrant from Salonica, in Barcelona, Spain as a small factory producing yoghurt. The brand was named Danone after Danon, the nickname of his son Daniel Carasso.

Ten years later, the company moved from Spain to neighboring France, and its first French factory was built. During the German occupation, Daniel moved the company to New York to avoid persecution as a result of his Jewish faith. In the United States, Daniel partnered with the Swiss-born Spaniard Joe Metzger and changed the brand name to Dannon to sound more American because many people intuitively pronounced it as "Dan One."