Business News From Overseas
September 15, 2010 business & economy news
Lovers of the Cadbury brand of chocolate may be saddened to hear the business news of another takeover – Cadbury has been taken over by Kraft. Cadburys was first started in 1824 by a Quaker of that name who sold coffee, tea and hot chocolate for people to drink rather than alcohol. From such humble beginnings a giant emerged that spread over 60 countries and employed 40,000 people. Mr John Cadbury would have been astonished had he still been alive.
Todays consumers of chocolate may not realise that the brand also owns six other common names of chocolate, according to business news. But all that may change once Kraft takes over as experts in business news seem to think that Kraft traditionally reduces staff and makes other major changes to companies that they buy up. Kraft is not as old as Cadbury, having been founded in Illinois in 1903 as a simple cheese wholesaler.
However as happens with most companies there were takeovers, mergers and additions of all kinds according to business news. Today Kraft owns over 40 historic brands and many more that are not considered to be historic. They employ even more people than Cadbury at 98,000, in their 168 processing and manufacturing plants worldwide. The only trouble with buying other companies is that it costs money and so there is debt to be paid in some way or other.
Frequently, that is paid for by employees in terms of lost jobs. Shareholders also have to give their approval, but this is not expected to pose a problem in this case.
