Nestle SA has agreed to acquire a majority interest in coffee startup Blue Bottle Coffee, an Oakland, California-based chain of coffee shops that had attracted big-name venture investors. Nestle did not provide financial details in announcing the deal, but The Financial Times reported that the company is paying up to $500 million for two-thirds of the company, valuing it at about $700 million. “This move underlines Nestlé’s focus on investing in high-growth categories and acting on consumer trends,” Nestle Chief Executive Mark Schneider said in the announcement. Nestle said it would continue to run Blue Bottle as a separate company, keeping management like Chief Executive Brian Meehan and Chief Product Officer James Freeman in place. “To us, this deal brings with it an attendant recognition and belief in our accomplishments,” Meehan and Freeman said in a blog post. The coffee chain, founded in 2002, had attracted more than $120 million in venture investment from the likes of Alphabet Inc.’s Google Ventures, Chris Sacca of “Shark Tank” and Twitter Inc. cofounder Ev Williams, according to Crunchbase. Nestle stock closed with a 0.1% decline on the Swiss exchange, while its ADR was trading about 0.4% lower Thursday.
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