Shares in breakfast cereal giant WK Kellogg have soared after reports that chocolate maker Ferrero is close to buying the firm for about $3bn (£2.2bn).
Ferrero could finalise the deal for the maker of Fruit Loops and Corn Flakes as soon as this week, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times reported.
The Italian owner of the Ferrero Rocher and Kinder brands has been expanding in recent years, buying Nestle’s confectionery business and several other food firms.
WK Kellogg shares rose by more than 50% in after-hours trading in New York after the reports.
WK Kellogg and Ferrero did not immediately respond to BBC requests for comment.
Kellogg has been struggling financially in recent years despite a major shakeup in 2023 that saw it focus solely on breakfast cereals.
Food firms are facing major challenges as customers shift to healthier options, which has forced them to change the way the operate.
The industry has also come under pressure from the Trump administration, which has targeted artificial colouring in brands like Fruit Loops as part of its “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.
Kellogg has said it will remove the synthetic colours from cereals eaten in schools by the 2026-27 school year. But it has not yet set a timeline for taking them out of cereals sold to the general public.
The company’s founder, Will Keith Kellogg, is widely considered to be the inventor of corn flakes.
