Sweet Company, Bitter Fight

Last April The Chicago Tribune reported on a family feud at the Blommer Chocolate Co., a $150 million confection maker in Chicago. The battle between the heirs of two of the three brothers who founded the firm, Henry Blommer Sr. and A.J. Blommer, led to lengthy buyout negotiations, which failed. The dissident cousins then turned around and sold their half of the business to Cargill Inc. When the remaining founder, Henry Blommer Sr., died, his heirs suddenly found themselves running a company that had a multibillion dollar conglomerate as their new partner. A judge in Delaware refused to undo the Cargill deal.To illuminate the lessons of the Blommer Chocolate imbroglio, Family Business here reprints the Tribune article as a case study. Afterwards, four experts comment on the issues, particularly on what the controlling faction might have done to prevent the sale to an outsider, and what, if anything, the cousins in control of management can do now. –The Editors.

In downtown Chicago, Blommer Chocolate Co. is widely known—by smell. Even an ill wind blows some good when it catches the cocoa aroma from the company's Near West Side plant and carries the scent over the Chicago River.

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