CASE 338 - Kraft

Kraft Foods Inc. (NYSE: KFT) is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate.It markets many brands in more than 155 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang. Forty of its brands are at least a century old.
The company is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Its European headquarters is in Glattpark, Opfikon, Switzerland, near Zürich. Kraft is an independent public company; it is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and became a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average on September 22, 2008, replacing the American International Group. In August 2011, the company announced plans to split into a North American grocery business and a faster-growing global snacks company.



Brands

A container of Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts
The company's core businesses are in beverage, cheese, dairy foods, snack foods, confectionery, and convenience foods. The full list of Kraft brands can be found at Largest Brands on Kraft's own website.
Kraft lists its own major brands, which each generate revenues exceeding $1 billion, as:
Cadbury
Jacobs
Kraft, including Kraft Dinner, Kraft Singles, Kraft Mayo
LU
Maxwell House
Milka
Nabisco
Oreo
Oscar Mayer
Philadelphia
Trident
Tang
Kashi
Seventy additional brands have revenues greater than $100 million. In total, 40 brands are at least 100 years old.

Cadbury
In 2010, Kraft bought Cadbury, resulting in several boycotts of all Kraft related products. A YouGov SixthSense survey has revealed that at the time of the buy-out, 94% of the British population was aware that Cadbury was being sold to Kraft.

Kraft Foods in the news

1950s Kraft delivery van in Australia, advertising "Velveeta", "Vegemite" and "Kraft Cheddar"
Kraft began a major restructuring process in January 2004, following a year of declining sales (blamed largely on the rising health consciousness of Americans) and the sacking of co-CEO Betsy Holden. The company announced closures of 19 production facilities worldwide and the reduction of 5,500 jobs, as well as the sale of 10% of its branded products.
On January 19, 2010, Kraft sealed the deal to buy 100% of the share capital of Cadbury for over $19 billion dollars.
On March 17, 2010, Kraft Foods said it was "truly sorry" over its closure of a Cadbury factory in Somerdale. Senior Kraft executive Marc Firestone made the public apology to MPs at a parliamentary select committee hearing.
In March 2011, in the US, Kraft Foods introduced MiO, a liquid flavoring product with zero calories and sugar-free geared to 18 to 39-year-old consumers. MiO has no artificial flavors but it does have artificial colors, artificial sweeteners and artificial preservatives, unlike some competing flavoring products, according to USA Today.
In August 2011, Kraft Foods announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies--a snack food company and a grocery company

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