By Nick Gale, WLS-AM News

(CHICAGO) Mars Chocolate and Wrigley announced  Thursday that they will be combining in 2017 and will be headquartered in Chicago.

The new Mars Wrigley Confectionery, will be headed by Wrigley Global President Martin Radvan who is a also a Mars veteran. Once combined, the two companies will have some 30,000 employees in about 70 countries.

Wrigley had about 1,000 Chicago-based employees in 2012 when it moved its headquarters from the iconic Wrigley Building Downtown to Goose Island.

As part of the combination, Mars is buying Berkshire Hathaway’s minority stake in Wrigley. Warren Buffett’s company has been an investor since 2008.

@ 2016 WLS-AM News