Ray Kroc paid $2.7 million to buy the McDonald brothers' interests in McDonald's in 1961.
Kroc had helped expand the brothers' restaurant system after visiting their San Bernardino, California, operation in 1954. He became frustrated by their reluctance to pursue rapid national growth and eventually asked what it would cost for them to leave the business. Richard and Maurice McDonald named the $2.7 million figure, and Kroc arranged the financing with help from Harry J. Sonneborn.
The purchase transferred control of the business to Kroc, who pushed McDonald's toward nationwide expansion and eventually international growth. The deal is sometimes simplified in popular accounts, especially the film The Founder, which presents the transaction as a dramatic takeover. The brothers' original San Bernardino restaurant and some related property arrangements were handled separately, helping create later confusion about exactly what Kroc acquired. The amount cited for the 1961 buyout, however, is $2.7 million.