Shares of packaged food giant Kraft Heinz fall nearly 25% in February after the company wrote down US$15.4 billion on two of its most iconic brands, Kraft and Mayer. It also cut its dividend by 36% to 40 cents and announced it had received a subpoena from the SEC on its accounting policies and internal mechanics in 2018. Brazilian private equity giant 3G Capital Partners is the company’s second largest shareholder. 3G Capital has a reputation on Wall Street for scaling back costs through strict budgeting, layoffs and other changes at the companies it invests in or acquires. It bought Heinz in 2013 and merged it with Kraft in 2015. Its normal strategy has suffered as the large consumer products company Kraft is seeing a real competitive threat from the trend for fresher and healthier foods.
