Jul 14

Swiss chocolate giant Lindt & Spruengli agreed on a billion-dollar deal to buy U.S. candy maker Russell Stover. The partnership makes Lindt the third largest chocolate maker in North America behind Hershey and Mars, owning 7.9 percent of the market.

Chocolate maker Mars Inc. will fund a five year, $10 million project to map the cocoa bean genome -- work that could lead to hardier, higher-yielding crops and better quality chocolate, the company announced Thursday.