—1954 — David Edgerton opens Insta Burger King in Miami, selling 18-cent fire-grilled hamburgers and 18-cent milkshakes. Three months later, Jim McLamore matches Edgerton's capital and the co-founders form a corporation called Burger King of Miami Inc.
—1963 — South Florida Restaurants Inc. changes its name to Burger King Corp.
—1967 — The Pillsbury Co. acquires Burger King Corp. for $18 million. There are 274 restaurants in operation with a total of 8,000 employees.
—1988 — Grand Metropolitan PLC acquires The Pillsbury Co. and its subsidiaries, including Burger King, for $5.79 billion.
—1997 — Grand Metropolitan merges with Guinness to create a new company, Diageo PLC.
—2000 — Diageo announces its intention to spin off Burger King Corp. from its portfolio.
—2002 — A group comprised of Texas Pacific Group, Bain Capital and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners buys Burger King for $1.5 billion.
—2006 — Burger King goes public.
—2010 — Burger King is acquired by 3G Capital and taken private. The new owners begin a yearlong process of reviving the ailing business with new menu items and remodeled stores.
—2012 — Burger King returns to the New York Stock Exchange after 3G Capital sells a 29 percent stake in the hamburger chain for $1.4 billion in cash to Justice Holdings LTD, a U.K.-based entity specifically set up by investors to buy a company.
