ML-Implode News - Kraft Heinz takes $666 million charge, misses sales expectations (UNCLE WARREN'S LATEST FOLLY CONTINUES)

Kraft Heinz's sales have been muted for 14 straight quarters as consumers turn to cheaper private-label brands, online shopping and fashionable, nonprocessed and organic food. Thursday's results mark the one-year anniversary of Kraft Heinz reporting a surprise loss and taking a $15.4 billion writedown of key brands - a move that rocked the consumer goods industry and led to the ousting of former chief executive Bernardo Hees and several other executives.
At the time, the company also slashed its dividend by 36% and disclosed an investigation into its accounting practices by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In the year since, Kraft Heinz has announced further writedowns, scrapped its full-year adjusted earnings outlook, and is still under SEC investigation.
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Brazilian private equity firm 3G and billionaire Warren Buffett engineered the merger of H.J. Heinz and Kraft Foods in 2015, and since that deal the value of Kraft Heinz's stock has sunk about 60%. Under executives installed by 3G, the company made aggressive cuts using a tool called zero-based budgeting (ZBB) that incentivizes managers to meet strict cost targets - critics say this ate in to investment in brands.

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Kraft Heinz takes $666 million charge, misses sales expectations (UNCLE WARREN'S LATEST FOLLY CONTINUES)