[8] In the first half of 2018,[9] 29% of sales came from specialized nutritional preparations, 19% came from branded bottled water, and 52% came from dairy and plant-based products (including yogurt).

[10] Danone was founded by Isaac Carasso (born İzak Karasu), a Thessaloniki-born Sephardic Jewish physician from the Ottoman Empire, who began producing yogurt in Barcelona, Spain in 1919.

[15] In the United States, Daniel Carasso partnered with the Swiss-born Spaniard Juan Metzger and changed the brand name to Dannon to sound more American.

Glaces de Boussois, located in northern France, made windows for the building and automobile industries (plate glass).

[18] The acquisitions initially took the shape of vertical integration, with BSN acquiring Alsatian brewer Kronenbourg and Evian branded mineral water who were the glassmaker's largest customers.

[19] In 1973, the company merged with Gervais Danone and began to expand internationally, including a rebranding of the Dannon yogurt brand in the U.S. and a successful ad campaign In Soviet Georgia that started in October 1976.

Under Riboud junior, the company continued to pursue its focus on three product groups (dairy, beverages, and cereals) and divested itself of several activities which had become non-core including Amora, Liebig, and Maille brands.

[26] Its Italian cheese and meat businesses (Egidio Galbani Spa) were sold in March 2002;[27] as were its beer producing activities in China.

[31] In July 2007, it was announced that Danone had reached agreement with Kraft Foods Inc (now Mondelēz International) to sell most of its biscuits division, including the LU and Prince brands but excluding Latin American (Bagley) and Indian (Britannia Industries) units, for around €5.3 billion.

[42] In late 2020, the entry of the London-based hedge fund Bluebell Capital as a shareholder of Danone put Faber’s position into question.

[43] After the publication of only slightly comforting 2020 results and disappointing first trimester turnover figures, Bluebell Capital's activism paid off and Faber was ousted in mid-March 2021.

In 2018, Danone's international brands include:[9] Activia, Actimel, Alpro, Oikos, Aptamil, Danette (Danet in some regions), Danimals, Danio, Dannon, Danonino, Evian, Nutricia, Volvic.

[59] Danone signed joint ventures with Al Safi in Saudi Arabia (2001),[60] Yakult in India (2005) and Vietnam (2006), Alquería in Colombia (2007), and Mengniu in China (2013–2014).

[62] Grameen Danone Foods Ltd. produces a yoghurt called Shokti Doi containing protein, vitamins, iron, calcium, zinc, and other micronutrients aimed to fill nutritional deficits of children in Bangladesh.

Its pursuit of profitability is based solely on criteria such as improving public health, creating jobs, reducing poverty and protecting the environment.[promotion?]

[63] Danone India offers a range of specialized products across life stages that includes pregnancy, infants, young children as well as adults, under Indian and global brands like Aptamil, Neocate, Farex, Protinex, Dexolac and Nusobee.

[64][better source needed] In 2018, Danone reduced its product portfolio and discontinued some dairy SKUs to bring a sharper focus on its nutrition offerings.

[71] Yet in 2005, Danone noted that alongside the 39 structures of the joint venture, 60 factories and distribution companies produce and sell beverages illegally under the Wahaha brand.

[68] On 4 June,[74] Danone filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Ever Maple Trading and Hangzhou Hongsheng Beverage Co Ltd, companies controlled by Zong, his wife, and daughter.

[83] On July 18, Ibragim Zakriev, the Minister of Agriculture of Chechnya and the nephew of its President Ramzan Kadyrov, was appointed General Director of the Russian Danone.

[86] In October 2013, Danone teamed up with Abraaj Group to acquire FanMilk International, the leading manufacturer and distributor of frozen dairy products and juices in Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Benin and Ivory Coast.

[89] The Danone Institute is a nonprofit organization established to promote research, information and education about nutrition, diet and public health.

[90] The institutes are located in Belgium, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Spain, the United States, and Turkey.

[113] Due to its narrow focus and relatively small size, Danone is potentially an attractive takeover target for its competitors, namely Nestlé and Kraft Foods.

The mothers reported that samples were provided by (in order of frequency): Dumex (Danone, and since May 2016 Yashili), Enfamil (Mead Johnson), Wyeth, Abbott, Nestlé, Friso, Ausnutria and Bei-yin-mei.

[121] The overall 2013 Save the Children report which includes this 2012 survey states, "If new mothers are given free samples to feed to their babies it can start a vicious circle that undermines their own ability to breastfeed.

"[121] In February 2013 The Guardian reported that up until 2011, Danone subsidiary Sari Husada had midwives sign contracts to receive financial payments for selling a certain number of boxes of baby formula.

However, the main difference appears to be a change from cash to merchandise such as televisions or laptops, and often including items which are needed in the midwives' practices, such as oxygen canisters, TENS machines, and nebulisers.

[123] Following a statement by the New Zealand government and Fonterra on 2 August 2013 warning that batches of ingredients supplied by Fonterra to four Danone plants in Asia-Pacific might be contaminated with Clostridium botulinum bacteria,[127] Danone recalled selected infant formula products from sale in eight markets (New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand) as a precautionary measure.

The alert was lifted on 28 August when New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries concluded after several weeks of tests that there was no Clostridium botulinum in any of the batches concerned.