The American Conglomerate That Actually Owns Dairy Queen

When you hear the name Dairy Queen, you probably picture soft-serve ice cream and maybe some deep-fried snacks. The brand is a giant in the fast food space, with more than 7,700 locations across 20 countries, per the Dairy Queen website. As the company and its sales goals continue growing, you may wonder who actually owns this popular chain? Well, just like another massive company owns Quaker Oats, Dairy Queen's parent company is a firm that has quite a few corporations in its portfolio: Berkshire Hathaway. In turn, Berkshire Hathaway is owned by Warren Buffett, the one financial "celebrity" real experts actually respect and a long-time Dairy Queen fan.

Berkshire Hathaway acquired Dairy Queen back in the late 1990s for a whopping $585 million. The deal was carried out as a stock swap, where Dairy Queen shareholders could either cash out their shares at $27 per share or buy Berkshire Hathaway stock at $26. The announcement of the merger had resulted in an increase in stock prices of both the companies at the time, although the deal eventually pulled Dairy Queen off Wall Street and into Buffett's private war chest. 

Apart from Dairy Queen, Berkshire Hathaway's portfolio of companies is full of names from a diverse range of industries, such as insurance, railways, and utilities. Berkshire Hathaway also has equity holdings in some of the biggest names on Wall Street, including Apple, American Express, Coca-Cola, and Bank of America.

In a 1998 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, Buffett described exactly why he bought Dairy Queen and another company purchased by Berkshire Hathaway around the same time. He wrote, "They are understandable; possess excellent economics; and are run by outstanding people." Nearly two decades later, this ethic was still largely in play when it came time to hire a new CEO for the ice cream peddler. Dairy Queen's current CEO, Troy Bader, was appointed in 2018. He revealed to Business Insider that, during his interview with Buffett for the position, the investing genius was looking for "passion" and "connection to the business" as essential qualities for leading the already-successful company.

This passion is also apparent from Buffett's own statements about the merger in his letter, where he had jokingly admitted that he had a "modicum in product expertise" for Dairy Queen. Over the years, Dairy Queen has enjoyed the financial stability provided by Berkshire Hathaway. As Bader explained in another Business Insider interview, the chain's been able to zoom out its plans for the future on a longer-term scale, without worrying about meeting the standards other publicly traded companies might. The chain's success is also evident from the $6.4 billion the company generated in sales in 2024 — a year where even McDonald's saw a dip in numbers. The following year, one of Dairy Queen's biggest rivals went bankrupt, so things are still looking up for Dairy Queen and its parent company as of late 2025.