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General Mills, Pillsbury deal opposed

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 9:37 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- U.S. antitrust enforcers are urging a court challenge to block General Mills Inc.'s $10.5 billion purchase of Pillsbury from Diageo Plc because the cereal maker's plan to share the Doughboy brand with another company would limit competition, people familiar with the case said.

The Federal Trade Commission staff argues that letting the giggling, blue-eyed Pillsbury character be the mascot for both General Mills and International Multifoods Corp., the biggest U.S. distributor of vending-machine snacks, would undermine the brand's value, the people said.

General Mills, the second-biggest cereal maker, proposed selling the Pillsbury line of baking mixes that competes with its Betty Crocker brand to International Multifoods.

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