Kraft Foods is splitting into two companies. Brands affected

@WSJWall Street Journal Kraft: Breaking Down the Breakup

Kraft Foods is splitting into two companies. Brands affected

Apparently, breaking up is fun to do.

Kraft Foods said this morning it will split into two companies. One that sells candy and snacks like Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolates and Tang beverage-like orange powder. A second piece would hold Kraft’s North American grocery brands such as Oscar Mayer, Jell-O and Philadelphia cream cheese.

Remember, Kraft just bulked up its business 18 months ago when it cliched a roughly $20 billion hostile offer for U.K. candy maker Cadbury. Kraft and CEO Irene Rosenfeld had to scrap like crazy to close that deal, and now after bulking up Kraft is slimming down. (If you can refer to the parent company of the Oreo in the same breath as the word “slim.”)

Nope, this break up doesn’t make sense to us, either. What would selling candy and snacks have to do with selling mac and cheese and lunch meats? Kinda a lot, right? Then again, we just like people to stay together. At Deal Journal, we still lament the breakup of Bennifer.

Here are some of the big brands affected the break up.

SNACKS BUSINESS:

Oreo

LU biscuits

Cadbury

Milka chocolates

Trident gum

Jacobs coffee

Tang powdered beverages

North American grocery business

Kraft macaroni and cheese

Oscar Mayer meats

Philadelphia cream cheese

Maxwell House coffee

Capri Sun beverages

Jell-O

Miracle Whip

At 8 am ET, Deal Journal will be Live Blogging the conference call where CEO Irene Rosenfeld and her troops will walk investors through the breakup logic. Follow along with the conference call yourself

Posted in: Business News,The Wall Street Journal,UK