Kraft Heinz’s public critic of Warren Buffett is extremely unusual for the generally passive owner

Wall Street shared Buffett’s disappointment.

Kraft Heinz’s shares fell up to 7.6% on Tuesday after the announcement early that morning, but brought back part of this defeat, finishing only 2.4% for vacation week.

Will Buffett’s misfortune encourage Berkshire to sell part or all of his participation?

He did not exclude it, saying: “We will proceed to what we think is in the best interest of Berkshire.”

Buffett added: “If we are approaching to sell our actions, we would not accept the block offer unless the same offer is made to other shareholders of Kraft Heinz.” In other words, unless someone is ready to buy the whole company.

Becky reported that Buffett does not like $ 300 million in additional general costs that will be spent to implement the split over the next year, and he does not think it will do a lot of good.

“It certainly did not prove to be a brilliant idea of ​​assembling them, but I do not think that dismantling it will repair it.”

In 2013, Berkshire joined 3G Capital Management of Brazil to buy HJ Heinz for $ 23.3 billion.

Two years later, when Kraft merged with Heinz, Berkshire emerged with more than 325 million shares in the new company worth around 24 billion dollars when the agreement concluded in July 2015.

Although the value of Berkshire’s participation has successfully succeeded after the merger, reaching around $ 30 billion in 2016, it slipped sharply in the next three years and has bounced around $ 10 billion since 2020.

In his 2015 letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote the shares cost $ 9.8 billion in Berkshire, so at the moment, he has a global loss of around $ 1.0 billion.

Berkshire noted the investment of $ 3.8 billion in the second quarter to better reflect its market value. He made a depreciation of $ 3.0 billion in 2019.

In a live interview with CNBC live with Becky Quick, Buffett had some regrets on the role of Berkshire in the merger of Kraft Heinz, saying that he had “paid too much” for a good business.

The share price fell 69% from the closing of the merger.

The split was not a total surprise.

In July, The Wall Street Journal reported that Kraft Heinz “envisaged a large part of his grocery business, including many Kraft products”.

Two leaders of Berkshire resigned from the KHC board of directors in May after the company revealed a “continuous evaluation of strategic transactions to unlock the value of shareholders”.

These resignations have aroused speculation when Berkshire could start to sell, “creating an overhang on the stock”, according to an analyst.

This overhang is even more worrying now.

Given that Berkshire holds more than 10% of KHC shares, he will have to report any market for market open within two working days, which could encourage other investors to sell as well.

Buffett is not the only one in his criticism of the split.

Financial time Written: “In his heart, the problem of Kraft Heinz is that he did not respond to the evolution of consumer tastes.” He thinks that the split is “less a daring strategic pivot, and the more the result of sub-performance years caused by the priority of costs (British spelling) on ​​innovation”.

Reuters The columnist Jennifer Saba calls the “redesign (de) sausage … as unpleasant to see as ever.”

“Despite the production of a wide variety of brands, the endless cycle of the wheels and the organization seems only in a single heartbreaking flavor” with financial engineering “an optimistic invigument”.

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Why Berkshire paid too much for Kraft (2019)

Warren Buffett admits that Berkshire Hathaway has paid too much for Kraft in his merger with Heinz, citing the growing power of retailers compared to brands.

The main assets of Berkshire of actions publicly disclosed in the United States, Japan and Hong Kong, by market value, depending on the closing prices today.

The assets were on June 30, 2025, as indicated in the 13F file of Berkshire Hathaway on August 14, 2025, with the exception of:

The complete list of current assets and market values ​​is available from Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio Tracker from CNBC.com.

Please send me questions or comments about the newsletter at alex.crippen@nbcuni.com. (Sorry, but we do not transfer questions or comments to Buffett himself.)

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In addition, the annual buffett letters to shareholders are highly recommended. It is collected here on the Berkshire website.

– Alex Crippen, publisher, Warren Buffett Watch