Kraft Heinz has put the separation of the business on pause. Buffett was unhappy with these plans

Food giant Kraft Heinz has put plans to split the company on hold to focus on improving financial results. The company's new CEO Steve Cahillane intends to invest $600 million in marketing and product development in the US to fix the structure's internal problems.

The decision comes amid discontent over plans to split the company by Berkshire Hathaway, Kraft Heinz's largest shareholder.

Shares of Kraft Heinz were down 6% on the premarket after the announcement of the suspension of the separation of the business. However, at the opening of trading on February 11, they corrected and almost completely recovered this decline - at the time of publication, the company's shares are trading down by only 0.7%.

One of the largest food companies in the world, Kraft Heinz, which owns food brands such as Oscar Mayer and Kraft Heinz, is suspending work on previously announced plans to split the company. Kraft Heinz CEO Steve Cahillane, who took office in January, said many of the company's problems are "fixable and under control," CNBC writes.

"My number one priority is to return the business to profitable growth, which will require full concentration of all resources on executing our operating plan," he said. - As such, we believe it is prudent to suspend the work associated with the [company] separation and will no longer incur the associated costs due to the loss of synergies this year."

Kraft Heinz also said it plans to invest $600 million to rebuild its U.S. business. These funds will be split between marketing, sales, and research and development. In addition, according to Cahillane's statement, a portion of the investment will be used to "improve the quality of [Kraft Heinz's] products" and changes in pricing.

In September 2025, after several years of declining sales, higher product prices and rising costs due to import duties, Kraft Heinz announced that it would split its business into two publicly traded entities, Reuters reported. One, according to Kraft Heinz management, was to focus on the production of sauces, and the other - on the product line, under its control, among others, were to go under the Oscar Mayer brands (sausages and hot dogs), Kraft Singles (processed cheese slices) and Lunchables (ready-made snack sets).

The demerger was to be completed in the second half of 2026. Before it began last December, Kraft Heinz changed its CEO - Carlos Abrams-Rivera was replaced by Cahillane, the former head of snack food manufacturer Kellanova.

One of the largest shareholders of Kraft Heinz is the investment company Berkshire Hathaway. Last fall, the idea of dividing the business Kraft Heinz criticized the then-head of Berkshire Warren Buffett: separation will not solve the company's problems, he noted, stressing that he was "disappointed" in the decision Kraft Heinz. In January, it became known that against the background of plans to divide the food company Berkshire may "potentially resell" its 325.4 million shares of Kraft Heinz. The amount of these securities at the time was estimated at $7.8 billion. 27.5% of shares of Kraft Heinz Berkshire received in 2015 - at the formation of the food company (then two companies were merged: Kraft and Heinz; and Berkshire owned about 50% of Heinz). Since then, the investment firm has not changed the size of its position. Berkshire has not yet reacted to the new plans of the CEO of Kraft Heinz.

Of the 20 analysts watching Kraft Heinz stock, 16 advise keeping it in their portfolios. Two each advise buying and selling them, MarketWatch data show.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor