That seems like a partial mis-characterization - he did insist that the buyer keep the company as an independent unit and retain all the employees, which is about as much as you can do when you’re selling. And he was likely tired and burning out as well - better to sell than run it to the ground or wait till someone else kills you off.

That said, he does seem to have been hustling from a young age, so why not? Could have just as easily been a new department store chain or movie theatre chain that he started instead, and we wouldn’t think he had “no idealism, no concern for public health”. Why the negativity for a food company?