Two multi-national companies, Wrigley and Cadbury, together account for some 60% market share of the worldwide chewing gum market. The global market shares for the top five chewing gum companies are estimated to be:

35% Wrigley Company (US)Chocolate & Confectionery Int'l, June 2006. 26% Cadbury Trebor Bassett (UK)Candy USA , November 7, 2006. 14% Lotte (South Korea + Japan)Euromonitor, 2002. 6% Perfetti Van Melle (Italy) 2% Hershey's (US)Euromonitor, 2004.

The remaining 17% of the global market is provided by an estimated 200 to 250 smaller gum companies, some of which are listed below.

The worldwide chewing gum industry in 2012 is estimated to be worth $26 billion in sales, and has grown by more than 14% in the last three years.

Chewing gum accounts for 85% of global sales, and bubble gum the other 15%.Euromonitor.

History 1848: John B. Curtis developed "State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum" 1869: Mexican general, Antonio López de Santa Anna brought chicle from Mexico to New York 1872: Thomas Adams Jr. sold his brand "Adams New York No. 1" with a picture of New York's City Hall, two for a penny 1875: Adams adds shredded liquorice to his chicle mass and created the first known flavored gum – Adams’ Black Jack gum. 1880: William J. White added corn syrup, sugar and flavoring to his "Yucatan" brand 1881: Civil War doctor from Cleveland, Ohio, Dr. Edward E. Beeman, added pepsin compound as a digestive aid 1891: Wrigley Company (US) was established 1895: Henry Fleer, the brother of Frank H. Fleer, started the brand "Chiclets" 1899: William J. White, of Yucatan fame, started the merger of six manufacturers to form the American Chicle Co. 1899: Franklin V. Canning developed Dentyne a contraction of "dental hygiene" gum with pink-colored gum with a cinnamon flavor 189?: Frank E. Barbour started Beech-Nut gum 1906: Frank H. Fleer Co., introduced the first bubble gum, Blibber-Blubber. 1909: Dr. Louis A. Dreyfus formed the L.A. Dreyfus company 1915 Stimorol (Denmark) was established by Dandy 1916: Franklin V. Canning sold Dentyne trademark and process to the American Chicle Co. 1916: Wrigley Co. acquired a controlling interest in the L.A. Dreyfus Co. and, in 1935 became sole owner 1916: The Hershey Company enters the chewing gum business 1918: NACGM [National Association of Chewing Gum Manufacturers] (US) established 1919: Ford Gum & Machine (US) established by Ford Mason 1921: Clark Chewing Gum Co. of Pittsburgh started Teaberry, Tendermint, and Cinadent brands. 1921: Leaf Confectionery (US) established 1926: Richardson Brands (US) established 1928: Donruss (US) established 1928: Walter Diemer, at the Fleer Company, improved the quality of bubble gum "Dubble Bubble" 1937: White Laboratories introduced Aspergum, an analgesic gum. "Pheenamint", a laxative gum and Chooz, an antacid gum containing calcium carbonate. 1938: Topps (US) established 1946: Ambrogio and Egidio Perfetti, started Perfetti S.p.A. in Lainate, Italy 1948: The Japanese company, Lotte, began chewing gum operations 1948: Dr. Bruno Petrulis of Amurol Products Company developed a sugar-free chewing gum. 1948: Maple Leaf (Holland) established 1949: Claude E. Parfet formed Krema-Hollywood Chewing Gum in France. 1953: Topps (US) establishes the Bazooka bubble gum brand 196?: Vincent Ciccone of American Charms Co. conceives the idea of inserting a bubble gum filling in a ball lollipop named "Blo Pops" 1962: American Chicle Co. was acquired by the Warner-Lambert Pharmaceutical Co. 1964: American Chicle Co. introduced their first sugar-free chewing gum, Trident 1965: Damel (Spain) established 1971: Proaroma (Brazil) established 1974: Warner-Lambert launches "Freshen Up" liquid center filled gum. 1975: Life Savers established Bubble Yum 1977: Bubblicious established 1979: Hubba Bubba established by Wrigley 1979: Bubble Yum launches a sugarless version 1980: Big League Chew launched by Wrigley 1983: Huhtamäki (Finland) creates the Leaf Group gum & candy business through the US acquisitions of Leaf Confectionery, D. L. Clark Company, Richardson Brands and the Donruss division of General Mills 1985: Huhtamäki (Finland) acquires Ford Gum & Machine (US) 1988: Bubble Tape created by Amurol subsidiary of Wrigley 1989: EACGI [European Association of the Chewing Gum Industry] (Belgium) established 1992: Fleer acquired by Marvel Entertainment (comics publisher) 1993: Cadbury (UK) buys its first chewing gum business with the acquisition of Stani (Argentina) 1995: Fleer shuts down its Philadelphia plant and moves its corporate office to suburban Mount Laurel, New Jersey 1996: Topps (US) closes its bubble gum factories in Duryea, Pennsylvania (US) and Innishmore (Ireland) and out-sources its Bazooka bubble gum production to Hersheys (US) 1996: The Hershey Company (US) acquires Leaf's gum brands: Rain-Blo and Super Bubble 1997: Huhtamäki (Finland) acquires the gum business of the Wuxi Leaf joint-venture in China 1998: Huhtamäki (Finland) divests the Leaf (Spain) gum business to Damel 1998: Concord Confections buys Dubble Bubble from Marvel Entertainment and moves operations to suburban Toronto 1999: Zed Gum (Ireland) is established 1999: CSM (Netherlands) buys the Leaf Europe candy and gum business from Huhtamäki (Finland) for €390 million 2000: Cadbury (UK) buys Kraft's "Hollywood" chewing gum business in France for €185 million 2000: The Hershey Company (US) buys Fruit Stripe and Bubble Yum gum brands and mints from Nabisco (US) 2000: Cadbury (UK) buys the small Wuxi Leaf gum business in China from Huhtamäki (Finland) for only €3 million 2000: Concord Confections partners with Walmart and Children's Miracle Network to conduct a national bubble-blowing contest across America for children 12 and under (conducted annually until 2006) 2001: Perfetti (Italy) merges with Van Melle (Netherlands) 2002: Cadbury (UK) buys a 51% stake in the gum and candy business of Kent Gida (Turkey) for €110 million 2002: Zed Gum (Ireland) acquires Leaf (Ireland) from CSM and changes name to Zed Candy 2002: Cadbury (UK) buys Dandy's gum brands, mainly in Scandinavia & Russia for €310 million 2003: The Hershey Company (US) sells Fruit Stripe, Rain-Blo and Super Bubble gum brands to Farley's & Sathers Candy Co. (US) 2003: Concord Confections (Canada) acquires Philadelphia Chewing Gum (US) and moves production to suburban Toronto 2003: Cadbury (UK) buys the global gum business of the Adams gum division from Pfizer for $4.2 billion 2004: Wrigley Company (US) buys the Joyco gum and candy and Cafosa Gum Base business from Agrolimen (Spain) for $272 million 2004: Tootsie Roll Industries (US) acquires Concord Confections (Canada) for $197 million 2005: ICGA [International Chewing Gum Association] (Belgium) established by the merger of the NACGM and EACGI 2006: Cadbury (UK) invests €148 million to expand gum capacity in Poland and Mexico 2006: Cadbury (UK) buys the other 49% of Kent Gida (Turkey) for €80 million 2006: Perfetti Van Melle (Italy) buys candy and gum company Chupa Chups (Spain) for an estimated €400 million 2006: ZOFT Gum Company (US) established 2008: Mars Inc., makers of M&Ms, buys the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and forms Mars-Wrigley] 2009: Vitamin Gum | Vitaball, Inc. (US) 2009: Chicza Organic chewing gum (MEX) launched in the UK and others countries of EU 2010: PÜR Gum (CA) established 2011: Ello Gum (US) established 2017: First Energy Holding B.V. (NL) established 2019: QUICK ENERGY Co.Ltd. (Czech Rep) established

See also Bubble gum Chewing gum Functional chewing gum Gum base List of chewing gum brands

References

External links The Story of Gum