The story
Kraft
Mondelez International is rooted in the National Dairy Products Corporation (National Dairy), which was founded on December 10, 1923, by Edward E. Rieck and Thomas H. McInnerney. The firm was initially set up to execute on a rollup strategy in the fragmented United States ice cream industry.
In 1924, Kraft Cheese Company was founded and was listed on the Chicago Stock Exchange.
In 1930, National Dairy acquired Kraft Phenix. After the acquisition, the combined company retained the National Dairy name and management, though the Kraft Phenix side of the company continued to operate largely independently. The company then changed its name to Kraftco Corporation in 1969, and was renamed again to Kraft Inc. in 1976. After its acquisition by Phillip Morris and the merger with General Foods Corporation in 1989, Kraft Inc. was renamed to Kraft Foods Inc. in 1995. Altria (the former Phillip Morris) sold its stake in 2007.
On September 7, 2009, Kraft made a hostile £10.2 billion takeover bid for the British confectionery group Cadbury, makers of Dairy Milk and Bournville chocolate. On November 9, the company's bid (then £9.8 billion) was rejected by Cadbury, which called it a "derisory" offer. Kraft upped its offer on December 4. It had significant political and public opposition in the United Kingdom and abroad, leading to a call for the government to implement economic protectionism in large-company takeovers. On January 19, 2010, Cadbury approved a revised offer from Kraft which valued the company at £11.5 billion ($19.5 billion). Some funds for the takeover were provided by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Cadbury sales were flat after Kraft's acquisition. Despite the Cadbury takeover helping to boost overall sales by 30 percent, Kraft's net profit for the fourth quarter fell 24 percent (to $540 million) due to costs associated with integrating the UK business after the acquisition. Kraft spent $1.3 billion on integration to achieve an estimated $675 million in annual savings by the end of 2012. Kraft increased prices to offset rising commodity costs for corn, sugar, and cocoa in North America and Europe. According to CEO Irene Rosenfeld, "We expect it will remain weak for the foreseeable future." Taking into account integration costs, the acquisition reduced Kraft's earnings per share by about 33% immediately after the Cadbury purchase.
Mondelez International
In August 2011, Kraft Foods announced plans to split into two publicly traded companies, an international snack-food company and a North American grocery company.
The snack-food company, called Mondelez International, would be the legal successor of the old Kraft Foods, while the grocery company would be a new company, Kraft Foods Group. The split was completed in October 2012. It was structured so that Kraft Foods changed its name to Mondelez International and spun off Kraft Foods Group as a new publicly traded company. Kraft Foods Group later merged with Heinz to become Kraft Heinz.
In 2014, the company announced a merger of its coffee business with the Dutch firm Douwe Egberts. The name of the newly merged company would be Jacobs Douwe Egberts (now JDE Peet's). The merger was confirmed on May 6, 2014, and completed on July 2, 2015.
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In April 2015, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) alleged that Mondelez International and its former subsidiary, Mondelez Global, bought $90 million (£61 million) of wheat futures with no intention of taking delivery. According to the CFTC, the purchase raised the price of the commodity and earned the company $5.4 million.
In January 2016, Mondelez announced that it would source 100% cage-free eggs globally by 2025.
On June 30, 2016, Mondelez made a $23 billion offer to buy its smaller rival, Hershey. The half-cash, half-stock deal valued Hershey stock at $107 a share. Hershey's board, however, unanimously rejected the offer. In 2016, Terry's was one of a number of brands acquired by Eurazeo from Mondelēz, and it subsequently became part of Carambar & Co.
In January 2017, the company sold the Australian grocery business, including Vegemite, to Bega Cheese.
In August 2017, it was announced that Dirk Van de Put, Belgian CEO of McCain Foods, would succeed Irene Rosenfeld as CEO in November 2017.
In October 2017, The company sold most of its sauce business in Europe (Primarily Kraft-branded condiments and Bull's-Eye Barbecue Sauce in Germany) to Kraft Heinz as a result of Mondelez's licence to use the Kraft name expiring. As a result, Kraft Heinz got the rights to use the Kraft trademark in Europe again, but this excludes Mondelez's European grocery business and the ownership for Miracle Whip in Germany and Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Europe.
On May 6, 2018, Mondelez agreed to buy cookie maker Tate's Bake Shop for approximately $500 million. The acquisition was completed on June 7, 2018.
On June 19, 2019, Mondelez agreed to acquire a majority interest in Perfect Snacks, owner of refrigerated protein bar Perfect Bar. The acquisition was completed on July 16.
On February 25, 2020, Mondelez announced that it was acquiring a majority stake in Toronto-based Give & Go, a maker of two-bite brownies. The acquisition was completed on April 3, 2020.
In January 2021, Mondelez announced that it had bought Hu Master Holdings for more than $250 million.
On May 26, 2021, Mondelez announced an agreement to acquire Greek snack company Chipita S.A., a high-growth key player in the Central and Eastern European croissants and baked snacks category. On January 3, 2022, Mondelez announced that the acquisition was complete.
In May 2022, it was announced Mondelez had acquired Grupo Bimbo's confectionery business, Ricolino, for approximately US$1.3 billion.
On May 10, 2022, Mondelez announced that it would sell its gum business, including Trident and Dentyne, in developed markets including North America and parts of Europe, as well as the entire Halls cough drop business, these businesses used to be owned by their former owner Warner Lambert.
In June 2022, Mondelez announced that it would be acquiring Clif Bar for $2.9 billion. Through the acquisition, Mondelez will obtain Clif, Luna, and Clif Bar Kids as a part of its portfolio.
On December 19, 2022, Mondelez announced that it was selling its North American and European gum business, including the Trident, Dentyne, Chiclets and Bubblicious brands, to Perfetti Van Melle, the makers of Mentos, however Mondelez retained the Latin American, African, Asian, And Australian gum business. The deal closed on October 2, 2023.
From Wikipedia’s article on Mondelez International, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8