NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Shares of Hershey Foods Corp., the world's largest candy maker, tumbled Wednesday after the company said it was no longer up for sale.

Shares of Hershey (HSY: down $8.81 to $65.00, Research, Estimates), maker of Kisses, Twizzlers, Bubble Yum and more, fell more than 12 percent after the company said the board of Hershey Trust Co., which controls 77 percent of Hershey's shareholder voting rights and 31 percent of its common stock, voted to instruct the company to terminate a sale proposal made in July.

Hershey Trust Co. controls the Milton Hershey School, which company founder Milton Hershey established in 1909 to serve disadvantaged students. The trust had asked Hershey to seek a buyer so it could diversify its investment portfolio and meet its "fiduciary obligation to the Milton Hershey School."

But the Trust's request raised a firestorm of protest among politicians, union officials and townspeople about the sale's impact on the community of Hershey, Pa., and a Pennsylvania judge earlier this month imposed an injunction preventing any sale.

Subsequently, the trust backed away from its plans, saying none of the potential buyers met its criteria; but a flurry of rallies and petition drives may also have had an impact on the decision not to sell.

"We've got some fence-mending to do with our community," said trust CEO Robert Vowler. "But we're going to live there. ... We're not going to hide. We haven't done anything wrong. Over time people will recognize we were doing the right thing for the right reasons."

Hershey said its board had not been approached by the trust about buying back the stock the trust owns and doesn't intend to renew a prior repurchase proposal the trust rejected.

Meanwhile, William Wrigley Jr. Co., the chewing gum maker that had offered just over $12 billion for Hershey, said Wednesday it was disappointed with Hershey's decision to terminate the sale and that it would have made "a unique strategic fit that was especially supportive of our vision."

"The Hershey opportunity was just one potential path toward our long-term vision," Wrigley said.

Past reports had indicated that Nestle SA and Cadbury Schweppes were in talks to enter a joint bid for Hershey.

The sale of Hershey would have been the largest auction of a food company since Nabisco was sold to Kraft for $14.91 billion. Hershey has $4.6 billion in annual sales, but controls 31 percent of the U.S. confectionery market.

"There has been significant disruption to our company, employees and the communities in which we live and work over the past few months," Hershey CEO Richard Lenny said in a statement. "However, Hershey Foods remains a competitively advantaged market leader in an attractive category."