Nothing Is Sacred

Foreign Ownership of Our Stuff

Although the deal has not been done and the proposed takeover is a ‘friendly’ one, there is currently some consternation, particularly in British Columbia, about the potential takeover of Whistler Blackcomb by Vail Resorts which is located in Colorado. When I was out in B.C. last fall, there was also considerable concern about the Chinese purchase of the ‘United Kingdom’ building. Of course, they have already purchased most of the nice houses in Vancouver. As well, you may recall, the Chinese bought the formerly Canadian oil and gas company (Nexen) located  next door in Calgary which perhaps should be even more disconcerting.

All this howling about the hollowing out of our manufacturing and leisure industries needs to be kept in perspective, however,  since the same thing is happening in the United States. I seem to recall that when the Pope recently visited New York and rooms for the rich were in short supply, it was difficult to find space in either the Waldorf Astoria (Chinese-owned) or the The Pierre (owned by the Tata Group, which is Indian - which is, by the way,
 a demonym we are about to lose - more later). And, if the Pope went to a movie, it was likely a Chinese one (not Grauman’s - that’s in L.A.) because back in 2012 the Chinese bought AMC which was then one of the largest movie chains in the country and the deal the largest takeover of an American company by a Chinese one. Even the ham in the sandwich likely came from that old Virginia firm, Smithfield’s which - you guessed it.

My purpose here is to supply you with schadenfreude by listing recent foreign takeovers of iconic institutions in the United States. First, the icon; second, the date founded and third, the occupying power:

1. Lucky Strike, 1871, England

2. Budweiser, 1852, Belgium

3. Vaseline, 1876, England

4. Good Humor, 1923, England

5. Hellmann’s, 1913, England

6. Purina, 1894, Switzerland

7. French’s, 1876, England

8. Frigidaire, 1918, Sweden

9. Popsicle, 1923, England

10. 7-Eleven, 1946, Japan.

So. surprisingly, England is the real culprit. Surprising, as well, is the fact that ‘French’s’  is American. They must have taken a ‘hit’  back when the French were regarded as “cheese eating surrender monkeys”.

Caveat lector: I dislike using foreign language phrases since I speak, write and understand only one - ‘merican, mid-Atlantic English.  But, it succinctly warns that the reader should beware. The deal in British Columbia is current (c. August 2016) and you can check on that. If I does not go through, I deserve no credit or blame, but it did happen, or not.  As for the current ownership of companies by companies in other countries, those data were taken (borrowed) from an article in the newspaper USA Today  and you have to admit that they do listicles pretty well. (Specifically see: “10 Classic USA Brands That Are Now Foreign-Owned”, Thomas C. Frohlich and Michael B. Sauter, USA Today, Dec. 8, 2013). As for the Pope, I think he visited New York recently and that the hotels named do not belong to Trump,

I say all of this because I realize that blogging is just another form of ‘vanity publishing’. That is, none of the information above was vetted by a copy editor or a real editor or by an owner who would probably have spiked the story. Keep this in mind when you mouth-off around the water cooler that the Chinese own what you thought was your very own ham company. For all I know, it could have been sold to an Israeli firm and Putin could own Popsicle. Do a check since things change quickly in the corporate world in which we live.