The story
Formation and early years
Private equity firm 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway had jointly taken H. J. Heinz private in 2013. In January 2015, 3G Capital managing partner Alex Behring met with new Kraft CEO John Cahill to propose a merger between Kraft and Heinz. Cahill brought the idea to Kraft's board the following month.
In March 2015, the boards of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz agreed to merge, subject to shareholder and regulatory approval. Heinz Chief Executive Officer Bernardo Hees would lead the new company, with Alex Behring becoming Chairman and John Cahill Vice Chairman. The transaction was completed on July 2, 2015, creating the Kraft Heinz Company. At the time it was announced, the combined company was described as the world's fifth-largest food and beverage company.
In February 2017, Kraft Heinz made a $143 billion takeover approach for the British-Dutch consumer-goods company Unilever. Unilever rejected the proposal, and Kraft Heinz abandoned the approach two days later.
In October 2017, Mondelez 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 again had the rights to use the Kraft trademark in Europe, excluding Mondelez's European Grocery Business and the ownership for Miracle Whip in Germany and Philadelphia Cream Cheese in Europe.
Kraft Heinz subsequently acquired Cerebos Pacific in March 2018 and Primal Kitchen in January 2019. The acquisitions cost $244 million and $201 million, respectively.
Accounting investigation
In February 2019, Kraft Heinz announced a $15.4 billion write-down of its Kraft and Oscar Mayer brands, cut its dividend, and disclosed that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had opened an investigation into its accounting practices the previous year. Ultimately, an internal investigation at Kraft Heinz found that years of accounting errors had caused it to understate its cost of goods sold by $208 million. More immediate, though, was the market reaction to this kitchen sink dump of bad news: the value of Kraft Heinz stock dropped $16 billion the morning following the announcement.
The destruction of so much shareholder value ensured an executive shakeup at Kraft Heinz. Anheuser-Busch InBev Chief Marketing Officer Miguel Patricio was announced as CEO Bernardo Hees' replacement on April 22, 2019. Originally slated to replace Hees in July, Patricio took over as chief executive on June 25, 2019. The departures of Chief Marketing officer Eduardo Luz and Eduardo Pelleissone, Kraft Heinz’s head of strategic projects, were also announced.
In 2021, the company agreed to pay $62 million to settle SEC charges related to the improper accounting practices. Additionally, Pelleissone and former chief procurement officer Klaus Hofmann paid sanctions of $300,000 and $100,000, respectively, for their roles in the scheme, with Hofmann further accepting the sanction that he would be barred from serving as an officer or director of a U.S.-listed public company for five years.
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Portfolio changes
From 2020 through 2022, under the leadership of Miguel Patricio, Kraft Heinz attempted to reshape its business, selling off major assets and acquiring others.
In November 2020, Kraft Heinz announced the sale of a large part of its cheese business to the French company Lactalis for $3.2 billion. In a deal that included brands such as Breakstone's, Knudsen, Polly-O, Athenos, and Hoffman’s, Kraft Heinz sold its natural, grated, cultured and speciality cheese businesses in the United States, the Canadian grated cheese business, and the entirety of its worldwide cheese business outside Canada and the United States. The deal also included a perpetual license for Lactalis to continue to use the Kraft brand on several of these product categories, as well as the Velveeta brand both internationally and on shredded cheese. Several production facilities and a distribution center were also included in this price.
However, before the deal was completed in November 2021, the U.S. Justice Department required that Lactalis sell the Polly-O and Athenos brands to address monopoly concerns in the ricotta and feta cheese markets. The Polly-O brand was sold to BelGioioso Cheese, while Emmi Roth USA acquired Athenos.
While the deal to sell its cheese brands to Lactalis was still in process, Kraft Heinz struck a deal to sell its nuts business, including Planters, to Hormel for $3.35 billion in February 2021. The deal, which closed in June 2021, also included the Corn Nuts brand and the manufacturing plant in Fresno, California.
It also acquired Assan Foods, Hemmer, and a majority stake in the German spice company Just Spices.
Carlos Abrams-Rivera, who had served the head of Kraft Heinz's North American operations since December 2021, was announced as the new CEO in August 2023. He would replace Miguel Patricio as CEO on January 1, 2024.
In April 2024, it was disclosed that private equity firm 3G Capital had sold its 16.1% stake in Kraft Heinz.
Proposed separation
On September 2, 2025, Kraft Heinz announced a plan to separate into two independent, publicly traded companies through a spin-off intended to be tax-free. One proposed company would focus on sauces, spreads, seasonings, and shelf-stable meals, while the other would focus on certain North American grocery staples. The company said the final names of the proposed businesses had not been determined.
In December 2025, Kraft Heinz announced that Steve Cahillane would succeed Carlos Abrams-Rivera as chief executive and that John T. Cahill would become chair of the board, both effective January 1, 2026. On February 11, 2026, the board paused work on the separation. In its May 2026 quarterly report, Kraft Heinz said the timing and completion of the proposal remained uncertain.
From Wikipedia’s article on Kraft Heinz, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7