Kraft Foods, Inc. is the largest food and beverage company headquartered in the United States and the second-largest in the world (after Nestlé SA). It markets many brands in more than 155 countries. The company is headquartered in Northfield, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. Its European headquarters are just outside Zürich, Switzerland.
A 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 November 2007, Kraft agreed to sell its cereal unit to Ralcorp Holdings, a major private-label food maker, for $2.6 billion in a form of a spin-off merger. This would add 50% to Ralcorp’s sales, to $3.3 billion, and will be used for Kraft’s debt payment, which is at $13.4 billion, in danger of a downgrade by Standard and Poor’s.
In February 2008, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. run by billionaire investor Warren E. Buffett announced that it had acquired an 8% stake in Kraft worth over $4 billion. Buffett’s business partner Charles Munger had also invested over $300 million in Kraft.
On September 22, 2008, the company replaced the troubled insurance company, American International Group in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
