{"url_path":"/sec/gis/10-k/2026/item-1a","section_key":"item-1a","section_title":"Item 1A Risk Factors","topic":"sec","document":{"doc_type":"10-K","doc_date":"2026-07-01","source_url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/40704/0001628280-26-046466-index.html","accession_number":"0001628280-26-046466","cik":"0000040704","ticker":"GIS","issuer_name":"GENERAL MILLS INC","edgar_url":"https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/40704/0001628280-26-046466-index.html","primary_entity_key":"0000040704","primary_entity_name":"GENERAL MILLS INC"},"word_count":4383,"has_tables":true,"body_markdown":"ITEM 1A - Risk Factors\n\nOur business is subject to various risks and uncertainties. Any of the risks described below could materially, adversely affect our\n\nbusiness, financial condition, and results of operations.\n\nBusiness and Industry Risks\n\nThe categories in which we participate are very competitive, and if we are not able to compete effectively, our results of\n\noperations could be adversely affected.\n\nThe human and pet food categories in which we participate are very competitive. Our principal competitors in these categories are\n\nmanufacturers, as well as retailers with their own branded and private label products. Competitors market and sell their products\n\nthrough brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce. All of our principal competitors have substantial financial, marketing, and other\n\nresources. In most product categories, we compete not only with other widely advertised branded products, but also with regional\n\nbrands and with generic and private label products that are generally sold at lower prices. Competition in our product categories is\n\nbased on product innovation, product quality, price, brand recognition and loyalty, effectiveness of marketing, promotional activity,\n\nconvenient ordering and delivery to the consumer, and the ability to identify and satisfy consumer preferences. If our large competitors\n\nwere to seek an advantage through pricing or promotional changes, we could choose to do the same, which could adversely affect our\n\nmargins and profitability. If we did not do the same, our revenues and market share could be adversely affected. Our market share and\n\nrevenue growth could also be adversely impacted if we are not successful in introducing innovative products in response to changing\n\nconsumer demands or by new product introductions of our competitors. If we are unable to build and sustain brand equity by offering\n\nrecognizably superior product quality, we may be unable to maintain premium pricing over generic and private label products.\n\nWe may be unable to maintain our profit margins in the face of a consolidating retail environment.\n\nThere has been significant consolidation in the grocery industry, resulting in customers with increased purchasing power. In addition,\n\nlarge retail customers may seek to use their position to improve their profitability through improved efficiency, lower pricing,\n\nincreased reliance on their own brand name products, increased emphasis on generic and other economy brands, and increased\n\npromotional programs. If we are unable to use our scale, marketing expertise, product innovation, knowledge of consumers’ needs,\n\nand category leadership positions to respond to these demands, our profitability and volume growth could be negatively impacted. In\n\naddition, the loss of any large customer could adversely affect our sales and profits. In fiscal 2026, Walmart accounted for 22 percent\n\nof our consolidated net sales and 31 percent of net sales of our North America Retail segment. For more information on significant\n\ncustomers, please see Note 8 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this report. \n\nPrice changes for the commodities we depend on for raw materials, packaging, and energy may adversely affect our\n\nprofitability.\n\nThe principal raw materials that we use are commodities that experience price volatility caused by external conditions such as weather,\n\nclimate change, product scarcity, limited sources of supply, commodity market fluctuations, currency fluctuations, trade tariffs\n\n(including recent tariffs imposed or threatened to be imposed by the United States on other countries and any retaliatory actions taken\n\nby such countries), pandemics, war (including sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine), and changes in governmental\n\nagricultural and energy policies and regulations. Commodity prices have become, and may continue to be, more volatile. Commodity\n\nprice changes may result in unexpected increases in raw material, packaging, energy, and transportation costs. If we are unable to\n\nincrease productivity to offset these increased costs or increase our prices, we may experience reduced margins and profitability. We\n\ndo not fully hedge against changes in commodity prices, and the risk management procedures that we do use may not always work as\n\nwe intend.\n\nConcerns with the safety and quality of our products could cause consumers to avoid certain products or ingredients.\n\nWe could be adversely affected if consumers in our principal markets lose confidence in the safety and quality of certain of our\n\nproducts or ingredients. Adverse publicity about these types of concerns, whether or not valid, may discourage consumers from buying\n\nour products or cause production and delivery disruptions.\n\n9\n\nWe may be unable to anticipate changes in consumer preferences and trends, which may result in decreased demand for our\n\nproducts.\n\nOur success depends in part on our ability to anticipate the tastes, eating habits (including the impact of weight loss drugs), and\n\npurchasing behaviors of consumers and to offer products that appeal to their preferences in channels where they shop. Consumer\n\npreferences and category-level consumption may change from time to time and can be affected by a number of different trends and\n\nother factors. If we fail to anticipate, identify or react to these changes and trends, such as adapting to emerging e-commerce channels,\n\nor to introduce new and improved products on a timely basis, we may experience reduced demand for our products, which would in\n\nturn cause our revenues and profitability to suffer. Similarly, demand for our products could be affected by consumer concerns\n\nregarding the health effects of ingredients such as sodium, genetically modified organisms, sugar and sugar alternatives, color\n\nadditives, preservatives, processed wheat and other ingredients, grain-free or legume-rich pet food, or other product ingredients or\n\nattributes.\n\nWe may be unable to grow our market share or add products that are in faster growing and more profitable categories.\n\nThe food industry’s growth potential is constrained by population growth. Our success depends in part on our ability to grow our\n\nbusiness faster than populations are growing in the markets that we serve. One way to achieve that growth is to enhance our portfolio\n\nby adding innovative new products in faster growing and more profitable categories. Our future results will also depend on our ability\n\nto increase market share in our existing product categories. If we do not succeed in developing innovative products for new and\n\nexisting categories, our growth and profitability could be adversely affected.\n\nOur results may be negatively impacted if consumers do not maintain their favorable perception of our brands.\n\nMaintaining and continually enhancing the value of our many iconic brands is critical to the success of our business. The value of our\n\nbrands is based in large part on the degree to which consumers react and respond positively to these brands. Brand value could\n\ndiminish significantly due to a number of factors, including consumer perception that we have acted in an irresponsible manner,\n\nadverse publicity about our products, our failure to maintain the quality of our products, concerns or perceptions about the nutrition\n\nprofile and health effects of ingredients or substances (including the processing thereof) in our products or packaging, the failure of\n\nour products to deliver consistently positive consumer experiences, concerns about food safety, or our products becoming unavailable\n\nto consumers. Consumer demand for our products may also be impacted by changes in the level of advertising or promotional support.\n\nThe use of social and digital media by consumers, us, and third parties increases the speed and extent that information or\n\nmisinformation and opinions can be shared. Negative posts or comments about us, our brands, or our products on social or digital\n\nmedia could seriously damage our brands and reputation. If we do not maintain the favorable perception of our brands, our business\n\nresults could be negatively impacted.\n\nOperating Risks\n\nIf we are not efficient in our production, our profitability could suffer as a result of the highly competitive environment in\n\nwhich we operate.\n\nOur future success and earnings growth depend in part on our ability to be efficient in the production and manufacture of our products\n\nin highly competitive markets. Gaining additional efficiencies may become more difficult over time. Our failure to reduce costs\n\nthrough productivity gains or by eliminating redundant costs resulting from acquisitions or divestitures could adversely affect our\n\nprofitability and weaken our competitive position. Many productivity initiatives involve complex reorganization of manufacturing\n\nfacilities and production lines. Such manufacturing realignment may result in the interruption of production, which may negatively\n\nimpact product volume and margins. We periodically engage in restructuring, transformation, and cost savings initiatives designed to\n\nincrease our efficiency and reduce expenses. If we are unable to execute those initiatives as planned, we may not realize all or any of\n\nthe anticipated benefits, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.\n\nDisruption of our supply chain could adversely affect our business.\n\nOur ability to make, move, and sell products is critical to our success. Damage or disruption to raw material supplies or our\n\nmanufacturing or distribution capabilities due to weather, climate change, natural disaster, fire, terrorism, cyber-attack, pandemics,\n\nwar, governmental restrictions or mandates, labor shortages, strikes, import/export restrictions, or other factors could impair our ability\n\nto manufacture or sell our products. Many of our product lines are manufactured at a single location or sourced from a single supplier.\n\nThe failure of third parties on which we rely, including those third parties who supply our ingredients, packaging, capital equipment\n\nand other necessary operating materials, contract manufacturers, commercial transport, distributors, contractors, and external business\n\npartners, to meet their obligations to us, or significant disruptions in their ability to do so, may negatively impact our operations. Our\n\nsuppliers’ policies and practices can damage our reputation and the quality and safety of our products. Disputes with significant\n\nsuppliers, including disputes regarding pricing or performance, could adversely affect our ability to supply products to our customers\n\nand could materially and adversely affect our sales, financial condition, and results of operations. Failure to take adequate steps to\n\nmitigate the likelihood or potential impact of such events, or to effectively manage such events if they occur, particularly when a\n\n10\n\nproduct is sourced from a single location or supplier, could adversely affect our business and results of operations, as well as require\n\nadditional resources to restore our supply chain.\n\nShort term or sustained increases in consumer demand at our retail customers may exceed our production capacity or otherwise strain\n\nour supply chain. Our failure to meet the demand for our products could adversely affect our business and results of operations.\n\nOur international operations are subject to political and economic risks.\n\nIn fiscal 2026, 20 percent of our consolidated net sales were generated outside of the United States. We are accordingly subject to a\n\nnumber of risks relating to doing business internationally, any of which could significantly harm our business. These risks include:\n\n•political and economic instability;\n\n•exchange controls and currency exchange rates;\n\n•tariffs on products and ingredients that we import and export (including recent tariffs imposed or threatened to be imposed by\n\nthe United States on other countries and any retaliatory actions taken by such countries);\n\n•political sentiment impacting global trade, including the willingness of consumers outside the United States to purchase from\n\nUnited States corporations or to purchase products manufactured outside the country of sale;\n\n•nationalization or government control of operations;\n\n•compliance with anti-corruption regulations;\n\n•foreign tax treaties and policies; and\n\n•restriction on the transfer of funds to and from foreign countries, including potentially negative tax consequences.\n\nOur financial performance on a U.S. dollar denominated basis is subject to fluctuations in currency exchange rates. These fluctuations\n\ncould cause material variations in our results of operations. Our principal exposures are to the Australian dollar, Brazilian real, British\n\npound sterling, Canadian dollar, Chinese renminbi, euro, Japanese yen, Mexican peso, and Swiss franc. From time to time, we enter\n\ninto agreements that are intended to reduce the effects of our exposure to currency fluctuations, but these agreements may not be\n\neffective in significantly reducing our exposure.\n\nA strengthening in the U.S. dollar relative to other currencies in the countries in which we operate would negatively affect our\n\nreported results of operations and financial results due to currency translation losses and currency transaction losses.\n\nOur business operations could be disrupted if our information technology systems fail to perform adequately or are breached.\n\nInformation technology serves an important role in the efficient and effective operation of our business. We rely on information\n\ntechnology networks and systems, including the internet, to process, transmit, and store electronic information to manage a variety of\n\nbusiness processes and to comply with regulatory, legal, and tax requirements. Our information technology systems (which includes\n\nartificial intelligence) and infrastructure are critical to effectively manage our key business processes including digital marketing,\n\norder entry and fulfillment, supply chain management, finance, administration, and other business processes. These technologies\n\nenable internal and external communication among our locations, employees, suppliers, customers, and others and include the receipt\n\nand storage of personal information about our employees, consumers, and proprietary business information. Our information\n\ntechnology systems, some of which are dependent on services provided by third parties, may be vulnerable to damage, interruption, or\n\nshutdown due to any number of causes such as catastrophic events, natural disasters, fires, power outages, systems failures,\n\ntelecommunications failures, security breaches, computer viruses, hackers, employee error or malfeasance, and other causes. Increased\n\ncyber-security threats pose a potential risk to the security and viability of our information technology systems, as well as the\n\nconfidentiality, integrity, and availability of the data stored on those systems. Emerging artificial intelligence-related threats may\n\nincrease the frequency and severity of these risks, and may also introduce new threats, both of which could be difficult to defend\n\nagainst. The failure of our information technology systems to perform as we anticipate could disrupt our business and result in\n\ntransaction errors, processing inefficiencies, data loss, legal claims or proceedings, regulatory penalties, and the loss of sales and\n\ncustomers. Any interruption of our information technology systems could have operational, reputational, legal, and financial impacts\n\nthat may have a material adverse effect on our business.\n\nOur failure to successfully integrate acquisitions into our existing operations could adversely affect our financial results.\n\nFrom time to time, we evaluate potential acquisitions or joint ventures that would further our strategic objectives. Our success\n\ndepends, in part, upon our ability to integrate acquired and existing operations. If we are unable to successfully integrate acquisitions,\n\nour financial results could suffer. Additional potential risks associated with acquisitions include additional debt leverage, the loss of\n\nkey employees and customers of the acquired business, the assumption of unknown liabilities, the inherent risk associated with\n\nentering a geographic area or line of business in which we have no or limited prior experience, failure to achieve anticipated synergies,\n\nand the impairment of goodwill or other acquisition-related intangible assets.\n\n11\n\nLegal and Regulatory Risks\n\nIf our products become adulterated, misbranded, or mislabeled, we might need to recall those items and may experience\n\nproduct liability claims if consumers or their pets are injured.\n\nWe may need to recall some of our products if they become adulterated, misbranded, or mislabeled. A widespread product recall could\n\nresult in significant losses due to the costs of a recall, the destruction of product inventory, and lost sales due to the unavailability of\n\nproduct for a period of time. We could also suffer losses from a significant product liability judgment against us. A significant product\n\nrecall or product liability case could also result in adverse publicity, damage to our reputation, and a loss of consumer confidence in\n\nour products, which could have an adverse effect on our business results and the value of our brands.\n\nNew regulations or regulatory-based claims could adversely affect our business.\n\nOur facilities and products are subject to many laws and regulations administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, the\n\nFood and Drug Administration, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and other federal, state, local, and foreign\n\ngovernmental agencies relating to the production, packaging, labeling, storage, distribution, quality, and safety of food products and\n\nthe health and safety of our employees. Our failure to comply with such laws and regulations could subject us to lawsuits,\n\nadministrative penalties, and civil remedies, including fines, injunctions, and recalls of our products. We advertise our products and\n\ncould be the target of claims relating to alleged false or deceptive advertising under federal, state, and foreign laws and regulations.\n\nWe may also be subject to new laws or regulations restricting the marketing or sale of our products because of ingredients or\n\nsubstances (including the processing thereof) in our products or product packaging. These limitations may require that we highlight\n\nperceived concerns about a product or product packaging, warn consumers to avoid consumption of certain ingredients or substances\n\npresent in our products, restrict the audience to whom products are marketed or sold, limit the locations in which our products may be\n\navailable, or discontinue the use of certain ingredients or packaging. Changes in laws or regulations that impose additional regulatory\n\nrequirements on us could increase our cost of doing business, restrict our actions, and reduce consumption of our products, causing our\n\nresults of operations to be adversely affected.\n\nWe are subject to various federal, state, local, and foreign environmental laws and regulations. Our failure to comply with\n\nenvironmental laws and regulations could subject us to lawsuits, administrative penalties, and civil remedies. We are currently party to\n\na variety of environmental remediation obligations. Due to regulatory complexities, uncertainties inherent in litigation, and the risk of\n\nunidentified contaminants on current and former properties of ours, the potential exists for remediation, liability, indemnification, and\n\ncompliance costs to differ from our estimates. We cannot guarantee that our costs in relation to these matters, or compliance with\n\nenvironmental laws in general, will not exceed our established liabilities or otherwise have an adverse effect on our business and\n\nresults of operations.\n\nClimate change and other sustainability matters could adversely affect our business.\n\nThere is growing concern that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere may have an adverse impact on\n\nglobal temperatures, weather patterns, and the frequency and severity of extreme weather and natural disasters. If such climate change\n\nhas a negative effect on agricultural productivity, we may experience decreased availability and higher pricing for certain commodities\n\nthat are necessary for our products. Increased frequency or severity of extreme weather could also impair our production capabilities,\n\ndisrupt our supply chain, impact demand for our products, and increase our insurance and other operating costs. Increasing concern\n\nover climate change or other sustainability issues also may adversely impact demand for our products due to changes in consumer\n\npreferences or negative consumer reaction to our commitments and actions to address these issues. We may also become subject to\n\nadditional legal and regulatory requirements relating to climate change or other sustainability issues, including greenhouse gas\n\nemission regulations (e.g., carbon taxes), energy policies, sustainability initiatives (e.g., single-use plastic limits), and disclosure\n\nobligations. If additional legal and regulatory requirements are enacted and are more aggressive than the sustainability measures that\n\nwe are currently undertaking to reduce our emissions and improve our energy efficiency and other sustainability goals, or if we chose\n\nto take actions to achieve more aggressive goals, we may experience significant increases in our costs of operations.\n\nWe have announced goals and commitments to reduce our carbon footprint. If we fail to achieve or improperly report on our progress\n\ntoward achieving our carbon emissions reduction goals and commitments, then the resulting negative publicity could harm our\n\nreputation and adversely affect demand for our products.\n\nFinancial and Economic Risks\n\nVolatility in the market value of derivatives we use to manage exposures to fluctuations in commodity prices may cause\n\nvolatility in our gross margins and net earnings.\n\nWe utilize derivatives to manage price risk for some of our principal ingredient and energy costs, including grains (oats, wheat, and\n\ncorn), oils (principally soybean), dairy products, natural gas, and diesel fuel. Changes in the values of these derivatives are recorded in\n\nearnings, which may result in volatility in both gross margin and net earnings. These gains and losses are reported in cost of sales in\n\n12\n\nour Consolidated Statements of (Loss) Earnings and in unallocated corporate items outside our segment operating results until we\n\nutilize the underlying input in our manufacturing process, at which time the gains and losses are reclassified to segment operating\n\nprofit. We also record our grain inventories at net realizable value. We may experience volatile earnings as a result of these accounting\n\ntreatments.\n\nEconomic downturns could limit consumer demand for our products.\n\nThe willingness of consumers to purchase our products depends in part on local economic conditions. In periods of economic\n\nuncertainty, consumers may purchase more generic, private label, and other economy brands and may forego certain purchases\n\naltogether. In those circumstances, we could experience a reduction in sales of higher margin products or a shift in our product mix to\n\nlower margin offerings. In addition, as a result of economic conditions or competitive actions, we may be unable to raise our prices\n\nsufficiently to protect margins. Consumers may also reduce the amount of food that they consume away from home at customers that\n\npurchase products from our North America Foodservice segment. Any of these events could have an adverse effect on our results of\n\noperations.\n\nWe have a substantial amount of indebtedness, which could limit financing and other options and in some cases adversely\n\naffect our ability to pay dividends.\n\nAs of May 31, 2026, we had total debt and noncontrolling interests of $13.6 billion. The agreements under which we have issued\n\nindebtedness do not prevent us from incurring additional unsecured indebtedness in the future. Our level of indebtedness may limit\n\nour:\n\n•ability to obtain additional financing for working capital, capital expenditures, or general corporate purposes, particularly if\n\nthe ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating organizations were revised downward; and\n\n•flexibility to adjust to changing business and market conditions and may make us more vulnerable to a downturn in general\n\neconomic conditions.\n\nThere are various financial covenants and other restrictions in our debt instruments. If we fail to comply with any of these\n\nrequirements, the related indebtedness, and other unrelated indebtedness, could become due and payable prior to its stated maturity\n\nand our ability to obtain additional or alternative financing may also be adversely affected.\n\nOur ability to make scheduled payments on or to refinance our debt and other obligations will depend on our operating and financial\n\nperformance, which in turn is subject to prevailing economic conditions and to financial, business, and other factors beyond our\n\ncontrol.\n\nWe depend on stable, liquid and well-functioning capital and credit markets to fund our operations. Our financial performance, our\n\ncredit ratings, interest rates, the stability of financial institutions with which we partner, and the liquidity of the overall global capital\n\nmarkets could affect our access to, and the availability, terms and conditions, and cost of capital.\n\nVolatility in the securities markets, interest rates, and other factors could substantially increase our defined benefit pension,\n\nother postretirement benefit, and postemployment benefit costs.\n\nWe sponsor a number of defined benefit plans for employees in the United States, Canada, and various foreign locations, including\n\ndefined benefit pension, retiree health and welfare, severance, and other postemployment plans. Our major defined benefit pension\n\nplans are funded with trust assets invested in a globally diversified portfolio of securities and other investments. Changes in interest\n\nrates, mortality rates, health care costs, early retirement rates, investment returns, and the market value of plan assets can affect the\n\nfunded status of our defined benefit plans and cause volatility in the net periodic benefit cost and future funding requirements of the\n\nplans. A significant increase in our obligations or future funding requirements could have a negative impact on our results of\n\noperations and cash flows from operations.\n\nA change in the assumptions regarding the future performance of our businesses or a different discount rate used to value our\n\nreporting units or our indefinite-lived intangible assets could negatively affect our consolidated results of operations and net\n\nworth.\n\nAs of May 31, 2026, we had $20.6 billion of goodwill and indefinite-lived intangible assets. Goodwill for each of our reporting units\n\nis tested for impairment annually and whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that impairment may have occurred. We\n\ncompare the carrying value of the reporting unit, including goodwill, to the fair value of the reporting unit. If the fair value of the\n\nreporting unit is less than the carrying value of the reporting unit, including goodwill, impairment has occurred. Our estimates of fair\n\nvalue are determined based on a discounted cash flow model. Growth rates for sales and profits are determined using inputs from our\n\nlong-range planning process. We also make estimates of discount rates, perpetuity growth assumptions, market comparables, and other\n\nfactors. If current expectations for growth rates for sales and profits are not met, or other market factors and macroeconomic\n\nconditions were to change, then our reporting units could become significantly impaired. While we currently believe that our\n\n13\n\nremaining goodwill is not impaired, different assumptions regarding the future performance of our businesses could result in\n\nsignificant impairment losses.\n\nWe evaluate the useful lives of our intangible assets, primarily intangible assets associated with the Blue Buffalo,\n\nPillsbury, Totino’s, Old El Paso, Tiki Pets, Progresso, Annie’s, Edgard & Cooper, and Häagen-Dazs brands, to determine if they are\n\nfinite or indefinite-lived. Reaching a determination on useful life requires significant judgments and assumptions regarding the future\n\neffects of obsolescence, demand, competition, other economic factors (such as the stability of the industry, known technological\n\nadvances, legislative action that results in an uncertain or changing regulatory environment, and expected changes in distribution\n\nchannels), the level of required maintenance expenditures, and the expected lives of other related groups of assets.\n\nOur indefinite-lived intangible assets are also tested for impairment annually and whenever events or changes in circumstances\n\nindicate that impairment may have occurred. Our estimate of the fair value of the brands is based on a discounted cash flow model\n\nusing inputs including projected revenues from our long-range plan, assumed royalty rates which could be payable if we did not own\n\nthe brands, and a discount rate. If current expectations for growth rates for sales and margins are not met, or other market factors and\n\nmacroeconomic conditions were to change, then our indefinite-lived intangible assets could become significantly impaired. Our Blue\n\nBuffalo and Progresso brands had risk of decreasing coverage and we continue to monitor these businesses.\n\nFor further information on goodwill and intangible assets, please refer to Note 6 to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of\n\nthis report."}