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December 18, 2021

Walmart to buy up the Twinkies brand?

Last month, in the midst of its parent company, Hostess Brands, going belly-up, the world wept for the Twinkie, which was thought to be going down with the ship.

Immediately, the iconic snack was considered endangered, and soon eBay became littered with boxes of the dessert selling for top dollar. Even today, a box of Twinkies holds a Buy It Now  price of $800 on the auction site.

The panic, we eventually found, was a bit misguided. Even if Hostess shuttered operations, its bankruptcy arrangement was such that it could sell off its brands and assets, meaning a company could buy up the Twinkies name and recipe and make the snack themselves.

Maybe we’ve found that company. And it’s a big one.

According to multiple reports, among the names sniffing around the Hostess Brands corpse is Walmart, the retail giant.

*Bing: How many calories are in a Twinkie?

Two dozen bidders are said to be after the assets being hawked by Hostess, which may generate as much as $1 billion in the sale.

Walmart, to be clear, won’t need to pony up the full $1 billion. The retailer can buy all or part of Hostess’ assets, which include its cakes and breads business, several other products and a number of Hostess operating plants.

Most notably, of course, is the Twinkies brand, which will be the signature item purchased in Hostess’ sell-off.

Canadian production of Twinkies hasn’t and won’t be interrupted; in Canada, they are made by Vachon, a division of Montreal-based Saputo, Inc., which was not affected by Hostess’ bankruptcy.

American grocery chain Kroger is also said to be considering the assets being sold by Hostess.

By Jason Buckland, MSN Money

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Gordon PowersGordon Powers

A long-time fund company executive, Gordon Powers now heads up the Affinity Group, a financial services consulting firm. Gordon was a personal finance columnist for the Globe & Mail for many years, has taught retirement planning...

Jason BucklandJason Buckland

The modern-day MC Hammer of money, Jason can often be seen spending cash that isn’t his with the efficiency of a Wilt Chamberlain first date. After cutting his teeth as a reporter for the Toronto Sun, he joined the MSN Money team with...