Nestlé

Nestlé S.A. (French pronunciation: ​[nɛsle]; English /ˈnɛsleɪ/, /ˈnɛsəl/, /ˈnɛsli/) is a Swiss transnational food and beverage company headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest food company in the world measured by revenues, and ranked #72 on the Fortune Global 500 in 2014.

Nestlé’s products include baby food, bottled water, breakfast cereals, coffee and tea, confectionery, dairy products, ice cream, frozen food, pet foods, and snacks. Twenty-nine of Nestlé’s brands have annual sales of over CHF1 billion (about US$1.1 billion), including Nespresso, Nescafé, Kit Kat, Smarties, Nesquik, Stouffer’s, Vittel, and Maggi. Nestlé has 447 factories, operates in 194 countries, and employs around 339,000 people. It is one of the main shareholders of L’Oreal, the world’s largest cosmetics company.

Nestlé was formed in 1905 by the merger of the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company, established in 1866 by brothers George Page and Charles Page, and Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé, founded in 1866 by Henri Nestlé (born Heinrich Nestle). The company grew significantly during the First World War and again following the Second World War, expanding its offerings beyond its early condensed milk and infant formula products. The company has made a number of corporate acquisitions, including Crosse & Blackwell in 1950, Findus in 1963, Libby's in 1971, Rowntree Mackintosh in 1988, and Gerber in 2007.

Chrétien Géofroy Nestler

Chrétien Géofroy Nestler, name also given as Christian Gottfried Nestler (1 March 1778, Strasbourg – 2 October 1832), was an Alsatian botanist and pharmacist.

He studied under Louis Claude Richard in Paris, and in 1806–1810 served as a military pharmacist. He was later a professor of botany to the faculty of medicine at the University of Strasbourg and a chief pharmacist of Strasbourg hospices. In 1816 he was appointed director of the botanical garden at Strasbourg.

As a taxonomist, he described a number of species within the genus Potentilla. The genus Nestlera (family Asteraceae) was named in his honor by Kurt Sprengel.

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