Timeline: Burger King's ownership history

NEW YORK (AP) — —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 announces plans to go public again 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.