The story
1813: The Company is founded by Simon Fribourg in Arlon, Belgium.
1890–1899: The Company expands into flour milling and builds its first mill in Arlon.
1914–1917: Offices moved to London due to the outbreak of World War I.
1919: Operations resume in Antwerp under the name ‘Compagnie Continentale d'Importation’. The CCI is managed by brothers Jules Fribourg et René Fribourg.
1921: Expanded operations to the United States by establishing ‘Continental Grain’ in Chicago and then in New York.
1928: Continental Grain buys a grain elevator in St. Louis, Missouri. This would be the first of seven it would hold by 1935.
1940: The Fribourg family leaves Europe to settle in the United States. This was due to the outbreak of World War II.
1944: The Company moves its headquarters from Paris to New York and the first CEO (Michel Fribourg) is elected.
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1964: Continental Grain makes the first major grain sale by any US company to the Soviet Union. The deal called for the sale of one million tons of wheat to Exportkhleb, a soviet grain-purchasing agency.
1965: Continental Grain ventures into the poultry business with its purchase of a majority interest in Allied Mills. This new division includes livestock production operations as well as processing operations.
1970: Operations at Allied Mills poultry division is expanded to include seven poultry processing facilities, as well as three egg production and processing units.
1971: Continental Grain acquired Oroweat, a baking company
1972: Another major sale to the Soviet Union is finalized and 10 million tons of grain is sent overseas.
1974: Continental Grain expands its ownership of Allied Mills and makes it a wholly owned subsidiary.
1975: Coronado Feeders is acquired by the company and establishes its first business venture into cattle feeding.
1978: Another cattle feeding business, XIT Feeders, is acquired by Continental Grain.
1978: A plant in Dobson, North Carolina is acquired by the Poultry Division of Continental Grain.
1979: Colorado Beef is acquired, further expanding the company's cattle feeding business.
1979: In a joint venture with Charoen Pokphand, Continental Grain opens the first foreign-owned feed mill in Chinese history. The new venture is called Conti Chia Tai International (CCTI).
1981: Grant County Feeders is acquired into the company's cattle feeding business.
1981: Oroweat acquired Brownberry
1984: Oroweat is sold to General Foods; Brownberry is sold to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice
1998: Continental Grain ventures into the pork business with its purchase of a majority interest in Premium Standard Farms, Inc.
1999: Continental Grain changes its name to ContiGroup Companies, Inc, after the sale of the company's commodity marketing business to Cargill.
2000: The Animal Nutrition Division is sold to Hubbard Feeds of Mankato, Minnesota.
2000: ContiFinancial, an early originator of subprime loans, went bankrupt; ContiGroup was the major shareholder.
2002: Wayne Farms purchases its thirteenth processing facility at College Park, Georgia.
2004: Wayne Farms begins building a new further-processing facility in Decatur, Alabama.
2013: Wayne Farms purchases a processing facility in Dothan, Alabama.
From Wikipedia’s article on ContiGroup Companies, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4