Checksum: 62641
Path: utzoo!utgpu!woods
From: woods@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu (Greg Woods)
Date: Sat, 5-Nov-88 19:05:19 EST
Message-ID: <1988Nov5.190519.11621@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu>
Organization: G. A. W. Consulting
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Re: The Weston Empire
Summary: They are certainly big
References: <164@electro.UUCP>
Reply-To: woods@gpu.utcs.Toronto.EDU (Greg Woods)
Distribution: can

In article <164@electro.UUCP> carlo@electro.UUCP (Carlo Sgro) writes:
>
>	a) the Weston family owns most of the chain grocery stores in North
>		America, and
>	b) they own over 200 big-name companies.
>
>Now I can sort of believe the latter (although I am wary of the 200 figure) but
>I really don't buy the former.  Does anyone have any idea about the validity of
>these statements?  What companies do they own, anyway?

They do own/control a lot of stores and make a lot of money:

(from the 1986 annual report for Loblaw Companies Ltd.):
	USA: 35 % of Loblaw Companies' sales ($2.74 billion)
	Western CANADA: 25.9 % of sales (2.03 billion)
	Eastern CANADA: 39.1 % of sales (3.07 billion)

	Total income: $7.839 billion.
	Total net earnings: $74 million.
	Total assets: $1.978 billion.

	258 stores in Eastern CANADA
	 53 stores in Western CANADA
	130 stores in the USA
	171 franchises of Peter J. Schmitt Co., Inc. in the USA
	 21 corporate Peter J. Schmitt Co., Inc. stores in the USA

(Peter J. Schmitt Co., Inc. is, I believe, owned entirely by Loblaw's.)

(There were 380 retail stores, 62 cash & carry units, 1,483 franchised
accounts, and 19,803 unaffiliated accounts at the end of 1986.)

I've not seen an annual report for George Weston Ltd.  I'm not sure of
the relationship between George Weston and Wittington Investments, Ltd.,
which I believe, is at the top of the pyramid.

Under Loblaw Companies Ltd. there are seven "big name" companies, of
which one is Central Canada Grocers Inc., which in turn controls five more
well known companies.
-- 
						Greg Woods.

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