goods predecessor sara lee corporation headquarters chicago illinois usa key people sean connolly president and ceo parent tyson foods divisions jimmy dean ball park hillshire farm state fair aidells gallo salame sara lee frozen bakery and chef pierre pies golden island premium jerkey website official website the hillshire brands company is an american food company based in chicago illinois . the company employs approximately 9000 people and generates nearly 4 billion in annual sales . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 founding and early years 1.2 merger with pinnacle foods 1.3 acquisition by tyson foods 2 portfolio 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit founding and early years edit see also sara lee corporation hillshire brands made its debut on june 29 2012 after the former sara lee corporation spun off its international coffee and tea division and renamed the remaining units of the company hillshire brands . it began trading on the nyse that same day under the ticker hsh . 2 under the terms of the deal sara lee s stock underwent a one for five reverse split . as of june 27 2012 all sara lee shareholders saw their holdings transform into hillshire brands shares and shrink by a factor of five . in addition each former sara lee shareholder received shares in d.e. master blenders 1753 on a one to one basis . the company paid out a concurrent 3 special cash dividend on all d.e master blenders 1753 shares . 3 in may 2013 the split was recognized among the six most successful fortune 500 companies spinoffs by fortune magazine . 4 during the fiscal year 2013 roughly three quarters of hillshire s revenues 74 % were generated through retail channels while the foodservice business accounted for 26 % of the company s sales . 5 merger with pinnacle foods edit see also pinnacle foods in may 2014 hillshire brands announced it was buying pinnacle foods for us 4.23 billion in a cash and stock deal . pinnacle foods brands include birds eye duncan hines hungry man and swanson frozen tv dinners among many others . 6 days later pilgrim s pride threatened the deal with its own bid for hillshire brands for 6.4 billion . 7 to complicate matters further on 29 may 2014 tyson foods announced a 6.13 billion cash bid for hillshire brands . on 9 june 2014 hillshire announced it had received a revised bid from tysons valuing the company at 8.55 billion . pilgrim s pride simultaneously announced it had withdrawn its bid . 8 acquisition by tyson foods edit see also tyson foods on june 30 2014 it was announced that pinnacle foods had scrapped its sale to hillshire brands which would allow hillshire to be acquired by tyson foods . pinnacle will receive a 163 million payment as part of the breakup from hillshire and pinnacle will also receive an expected 25 million in one time costs connected to the scotched sale . 9 10 portfolio edit hillshire brands is a manufacturer and marketer of packaged meat and frozen bakery products for the retail and foodservice markets and a wholly owned subsidiary of tyson foods . the company s portfolio of brands include jimmy dean ball park hillshire farm kahns state fair sara lee chef pierre pies aidells gallo salame and golden island premium jerky . 11 hillshire brands paid 165 million to acquire van s natural foods in april 2014 . 12 see also edit companies portal list of food companies references edit hillshire brands company financial information . yahoo finance . 2014 . sara lee splits takes hillshire name for n. american business . usa today . associated press . 6 june 2012 . looking back sara lee s hillshire brands spin off unlocks value . arbideas . 12 february 2013 . 6 spinoff successes . cnn money . 6 may 2013 . company profile . reuters . hillshire brands buying pinnacle foods for 4.23 b . abcnews.go.com . abc news . may 12 2014 . retrieved may 12 2014 . baertlein lisa may 27 2014 . pilgrim s bid for hillshire puts pinnacle deal in peril . reuters . retrieved may 28 2014 . tyson foods wins battle to buy hillshire brands . the boston journal . retrieved 10 june 2014 . pinnacle foods lets hillshire out of sale pact . abc news . associated press . 30 june 2014 . retrieved 30 june 2014 . team trefis . hillshire brands moves to end pinnacle deal in light of tyson foods offer . forbes . forbes . retrieved 30 june 2014 . hillshire brands annual report . hillshire brands . 2013 . gee kelsey . hillshire brands to acquire van s natural foods . wall street journal . issn 0099 9660 . retrieved 2016 03 08 . external links edit official website v t e hillshire brands core brands aidells ball park gallo salame hillshire farm jimmy dean state fair other brands bryan golden island jerkey kahn s rudy s farm sara lee desserts & meats retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title hillshire brands & oldid 743337951 categories food and drink companies of the united statesmanufacturing companies based in chicagocompanies established in 2012sausage companiescompanies formerly listed on the new 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