TURLOCK, Calif. — Reports are swirling that Tyson Foods, one of the largest food companies in the country, may be in talks to buy locally owned Foster Farms for a reported $2 billion.
CNBC reported on Tuesday that “people familiar with the situation” say the two companies have been talking about the deal, but they’ve apparently been disagreeing over the price.
Keep in mind, none of this is actually confirmed. An emailed statement from Foster Farms' public relations representative even said that rumors and inquiries like these "have come and gone for decades."
"As a policy, Foster Farms never comments on speculated mergers and acquisitions activity. While inquiries and rumors have come and gone for decades, Foster Farms has thrived as a family-owned company for 80 years. We are fully confident in our future success as a stand-alone company," said the firm in an emailed statement.
Worth Sparkman, a spokesman for Tyson Foods, told ABC10 on Wednesday that they "don’t comment on rumors."
Foster Farms has been a family-owned company since 1939 in the heart of the Central Valley and notably, one of the top 15 largest employers in Stanislaus County.
Bill Mattos, President of the California Poultry Federation, told ABC10 that he couldn't respond to the reports but he did say, "Foster Farms is one of the nation's most successful poultry companies and the largest on the West Coast."
Across the country, however, they are said to employ about 12,000 people according to Forbes.
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