Thousands Of Layoffs Coming After Buffett Merges Heinz With Kraft, 5th Largest Food Company

Zero Hedge ^ | 03/25/2015 | Tyler Durden

[C19fan]

“significant synergy opportunities.”

One of the most vapid sayings in business.

[stars & stripes forever]

Let hope they decide to quit poisoning the world with sugar and artificial sweeteners in the name of healthy foods.

[BerniesFriend]

Thousands Of Layoffs Coming After Buffett Merges Heinz With Kraft, 5th Largest Food Company

Wrong!!! it should read, "Thousands of Opportunities at Funemployment Coming After Buffett Merges Heinz With Kraft.."..there..fixed it obama style..

[grania]

Will this giant with its global reach control the supply of food, thus squeezing competing companies out of business? Small companies that have been doing a good job providing healthier food cannot survive if the sources of food are tied up. Will this corporate monster have enough control to put an end to natural products that avoid GMOs?

Aren't there still laws against mergers that threaten competition? This could be real bad news.

[stars & stripes forever]

[Small companies that have been doing a good job providing healthier food cannot survive if the sources of food are tied up.]

The way to combat this is through education.

Here are some sites I go to for healthy living.

http://draxe.com/
http://www.drmercola.com/
http://wellnessmama.com/

Any others?

[Tallguy]

Isn’t that a prettier way of saying “Duplication of Effort” or “Get ready for the layoffs”?

[buffaloguy]

I doubt that there will be an synergy. Both companies are so large that synergy would be minimal or non-existent.

Just more concentration of production facilities.

[Procyon]

After a merger, management looks for cost savings that can be achieved by combining some tasks formerly carried out by two people in separate firms. Anyone whose present job could fall into that category should spend less time in front of the television and hit the books and prepare for their next job. A job in the private sector is not an entitlement.

[ontap]

One of the biggest hypocrites going is Warren Buffett....he profits off of capitalism while supporting anti capitalists!!!

[all the best]

Thanks for wellnessmama. Already subscribe to the other two. The merger is perhaps more accurately the merger of two chemical giants.

[grania]

Thanks for the healthy food sources lists. It's gotten much easier to find real food at competitive prices, and having those companies compiled really helps.

My concern is their sources of food. This food giant could come in and buy up contracts for most of the food that is produced at a slightly higher price, making it unavailable to smaller companies. It'll have undo influence on government regualtions that could make it real hard for small companies to compete.

I don't like this at all. We'd all be better off, as far as health and control of food choices is concerned if Heinz and Kraft were being broken up.

[Regal]

“Small companies that have been doing a good job providing healthier food cannot survive if the sources of food are tied up.”
___________

Are you posting from an “Occupy” meeting somewhere? If you can keep up you compete. If you can’t, you go out of business. Business School 101. If the consumer wanted “healthier foods” they would be winning market share.

[kevkrom]

The esteemed IowaHawk, via Twitter:

@iowahawkblog: Heinz, Velveeta, Jello, Miracle Whip, Oscar Mayer: Warren Buffett has an evil scheme to take over the Lutheran church basement food industry

[grania]

Healthier foods ARE competing, and doing very well. What I’m speaking to is the ability of a too-large corporation to monopolize food sources.

[Regal]

Same thing. Large corporations have the buying power to dominate the supply chain. If the “healthy food” business can keep up with the purchase power of the larger competitors, they will survive. This is the pressure that requires keen business skills, and those without them fall away.

[grania]

It’s about unfair competition and access to food resources, not about business skills. These smaller, better food manufacturers have already proven their business skills. Many of them are doing quite well.

[Regal]

I would hate to be the farmer who negotiates a lucrative deal with a Heinz/Kraft factory to sell my crop at a substantial profit only to be told by the company, sorry, the government has decided that we’ve purchased too many tomoatoes already, you’ll have to find some small company to buy your crop so we can be fair. The market alone should control the market.

[masadaman]

"...The market alone should control the market"

Heinz, Campbell's, Hunt's and other major tomato processors contract with farmers at fixed prices for processing tomatoes before planting often providing proprietary tomato seed and crop advances. Farmers don't want to bring a highly perishable tomato crop to market without a fixed price.

[TexasRepublic]

I look forward to the future food monopoly’s new line of Soylent products. Reducing thousands of competing products to just Soylent Red and Soylent Green will make confusing buying decisions so much simpler.