And -- for the pet owners out there -- just now I learned that Banfield and VCA are owned by the same privately owned investment vehicle, i.e. the Mars family. Once again, outfits that I assumed were in competition were basically cousins. No wonder their prices keep going up.
It turns out Mars Inc. is the fourth-largest privately held corporation in the US. Frank Mars started an ultimately failing candy factory in 1911, but stayed in the family candy business. The family made a fortune after son Forrest Mars Sr. invented the Milky Way bar in 1923. Apparently Frank invented the Snickers Bar in 1930, but it's unclear who invented the 3 Musketeers bar, which came out in 1932. Frank and Forrest Sr. are gone, but Forrest's sons Forrest Jr. and John took over the business (Forrest Jr. died in 2016; John is still alive at 87 here in 2023). I have no idea whether John and Forrest Jr. had any particular talent for business, but they made a good investment in 2007, and now own a big stake in the PetCare industry. Here's Wikipedia on Mars, Inc.:
Mars Veterinary HealthIn 2007, Mars, Incorporated purchased a significant stake in the Banfield Pet Hospital chain.In October 2015, BluePearl Veterinary Partners was acquired by Mars Petcare division. This acquisition resulted in Mars Petcare becoming the largest pet nutrition and veterinary care provider in the world.In January 2017, Mars Veterinary Health North America announced the US$7.7 billion acquisition of Los Angeles-based animal hospital chain VCA Inc.In June 2018, Mars Veterinary Health International and Diagnostics acquired the Linnaeus Group consolidating its position as a leading veterinary provider in the United Kingdom.
They also own a number of Pet Food lines that you might have thought were in competition: Pedigree, Whiskas, Nutro and Royal Canin.
So basically what I thought was competition in pet care was just an investment scheme that has helped a very rich family get very richer.
Would Americans have more faith in their government if the government had not completely abandoned anti-trust enforcement?
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of reasons many Americans have lost faith in government, but a bit more serious antitrust enforcement would be a good first step to regaining trust. Seems like the need is getting even greater -- it used to be that competitors would attempt to buy each other out, so the potential antitrust issues were easy to spot, and would only occur under specified conditions. Now, it seems that investors are simply buying out ALL the competitors -- which doesn't require any particular market conditions -- and letting them keep their names, which makes us think there is competition when there isn't.
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