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Buffett Bloodbath: Kraft Heinz Laying Off 10% Of Workforce

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Back in August, we said “thanks uncle Warren” on the heels of reports which indicated it was time for Kraft employees to do their part to facilitate merger "synergies” in the wake of the Kraft-Heinz tie-up engineered earlier this year by everyone’s favorite folksy octogenarian billionaire along with 3G. 

In short, Kraft Heinz said it would lay off 700 workers at Kraft's corporate headquarters in north suburban Northfield, part of a cost-cutting plan that would slash the combined entity’s headcount in the U.S. and Canada by 2,500 jobs.

Well, on Wednesday we got more of the same with CNBC reporting that Kraft Heinz will close seven plants and lay off 2,600 employees. The company is also reportedly moving Oscar Mayer to Chicago from Wisconsin. Here's what we know so far

The closing factories are in Fullerton, California; San Leandro, California; Federalsburg, Maryland; St. Marys, Ontario, Canada; Campbell, New York; Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania; and Madison, Wisconsin, Michael Mullen SVP of corporate and government affairs, said in a statement.

 

Over the next 12-24 months, he said, production in those locations will shift to other existing factories in North America.

 

He said the decision to close the factories came after "an extensive review of the Kraft Heinz North American supply chain footprint, capabilities and capacity utilization."

 

Calling the move "difficult but necessary," Mullen said the closures would cut approximately 2,600 positions from the company's North American factory-based employee population.

Here's the headline dump:

  • KRAFT HEINZ NORTH AMERICAN TO CUT 2,600 JOBS, CLOSE 7 NA PLANTS
  • KRAFT HEINZ SEES CLOSURE PROCESS OVER NEXT 12-24 MONTHS
  • KRAFT HEINZ SEES BRINING 250 JOBS TO CHICAGO AREA IN 2016
  • KRAFT HEINZ SEES INVESTING HUNDREDS MILLIONS INTO MODERNIZATION
  • KRAFT HEINZ COMMENTS IN EMAILED STATEMENT

And here's a bit of much needed (if minimal) good news for Chicago:

Kraft Heinz announced Wednesday that it will move Oscar Mayer and the company's U.S. meats business unit from Madison, Wis., to Chicago — a move that will add 250 jobs to the Chicago area, according to a company news release.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer have struck a deal to keep Kraft-Heinz facilities in upstate New York operational. Here’s more: 

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer today announced that an agreement has been reached to save at-risk Kraft-Heinz facilities which employ nearly 1,000 workers throughout Upstate New York. The agreement will ensure that Kraft-Heinz preserves a significant employment base throughout New York State for years to come and paves the way for additional investment and growth at a number of Kraft-Heinz facilities. Under the agreement, Kraft-Heinz will continue operating the Avon, Walton and Lowville plants. Additionally, Kraft-Heinz will defer its planned closure of the Campbell plant for a period of 12-24 months, during which time the company will work with state, federal and local officials in an effort to identify a new operator who would retain the plant?s existing employment. The State and company are also committing to each invest at least $20 million to support and modernize Kraft-Heinz's Upstate operations.

 

Governor Cuomo said: "The prospect of these across the board closures was very real and not only would have been devastated these communities, but caused ripple effects in New York's dairy industry and beyond. This agreement reverses course and, saves hundreds of local jobs and commits Kraft-Heinz to invest millions of dollars in the Upstate economy, with the potential for job increases in the years to come. I thank Senator Schumer and Kraft-Heinz for working with us to protect jobs in these communities and help ensure the future of each of these plants."

 

Senator Schumer said: "After any merger that involves an important Upstate company like Kraft that employs so many hundreds of workers and supports so many dairy farmers, I worry about any potential negative impacts on our Upstate New York jobs. New York Kraft factories in Avon, Walton, Campbell and Lowville were in the crosshairs, and thousands of families were at severe risk of losing their jobs. But working together with Governor Cuomo we were able to craft a deal with Kraft-Heinz that saves these factories from closure; that protects jobs; and that invests in growth for our future in each of these communities. It's a win-win deal that will be good for Kraft-Heinz and good for retaining and growing jobs in Upstate New York.''

Ok so apparently, Kraft-Heinz is laying off 2,600 immediately after agreeing to not layoff 1,000 in upstate New York under pressure from Cuomo and Schumer.

The net result would seem to be 1,600 layoffs, but who knows as this is still a developing story. What we do know for sure is that we were correct in March, when we said the following in the wake of the megamerger:

Another day, another mega-M&A deal taking advantage of abnormally low bond rates, this time however not involving biotechs or a specialty pharma seeking to purchase a debt-free balance sheet, but one involving the Oracle of Omaha himself, and his Heinz investment, which will merge with Kraft Foods whose market cap was over $40 billion this morning on the news of the merger, and create the third largest food and beverage company in the US, and 5th largest in  the world. 

 

And while the resulting company will certainly be an unprecedented food giant, one which leaves the US food industry even more concentrated, here is the rationale behind the deal and the punchline for American workers: "significant synergy opportunities." Translation: thousands of layoffs imminent.

It took seven months.

 

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Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:49 | 6750084 Ivanovich
Ivanovich's picture

ConAgra Foods just laid off 1500 today as well.  Bloodbath in Omaha.  But hey, as long as shareholders get more equity squeezed out, who cares?

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:58 | 6750127 knukles
knukles's picture

I tried but couldn't.  Maybe that'll get me laid, too.  Or am I missing something?

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:58 | 6750129 froze25
froze25's picture

Better off not eating that shit anyway.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:05 | 6750164 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture
The world's biggest shipping company is slashing 4,000 jobs on falling demand

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/maersk-cutting-slashing-4000-jobs-on-fall...

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 18:51 | 6750765 FireBrander
FireBrander's picture

All smiles here...I have done my best NOT to buy corporate food products...plenty of small manufacturers to buy from...Franks' Ketchup is excellent, cheaper than the national brands and has been a "family business" for 4 generations!

http://www.fremontcompany.net/

Corporate farming is/was supposed to save us money...what it really does is give us SHIT PRODUCTS!

Local factory milk tastes like crap...cost is $4.29

Small, local, family farm milk, tastes like, well, MILK...cost $4.99

I save 70 cents a gallon on CRAPPY, DRUGGED UP,  milk...WHOOP-DE-DO!

Same with eggs...$1 a dozen more from a small farm..but they TASTE GREAT! Did you know that factory egg farms actually add a natural dye to the chicken feed in order to STAIN the yolks that deep yellow? Whithout that dye, the yolk looks sorta grayish...NASTY!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 21:43 | 6751719 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

Yep, now I can just boycott 1 mega corp instead of two.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:02 | 6750850 johnconnor
johnconnor's picture

it is all good, Facebook has over a billion active users...

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:48 | 6750087 venturen
venturen's picture

He can't DIE soon enough

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:54 | 6750114 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

Soros first, please!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:55 | 6750100 E.F. Mutton
E.F. Mutton's picture

Buffett is the Kindly ol' Grandpa who loves to have you sit on his lap.  So he can put a finger up your ass.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:59 | 6750133 froze25
froze25's picture

Don't forget that he will be eating a ice cream cone while doing this.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:04 | 6750136 JuliaS
Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:47 | 6751127 Sparkey
Sparkey's picture

My Grandad used to do that to my sister, when she complained Moma got mad and said she was ungrateful, look at all the things Gramps has given you she said.

I sure hope poor old Warren will be 'OK' he is one of the most beloved icons of Capitalism America has got! Please send a Prayer Warrens way, he needs it, remember that Camel and the eye of a needle story!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:55 | 6751182 Sparkey
Sparkey's picture

My Grandad used to do that to my sister, when she complained Moma got mad and said she was ungrateful, look at all the things Gramps has given you she said.

I sure hope poor old Warren will be 'OK' he is one of the most beloved icons of Capitalism America has got! Please send a Prayer Warrens way, he needs it, remember that Camel and the eye of a needle story!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:52 | 6750101 arbwhore
arbwhore's picture

Clearly, time to raise rates.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:54 | 6750111 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

All of the money in the world wouldn't be enough. Uncle Warren will always need MOAR!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:54 | 6750113 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

don't worry about the execs, they got plenty

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:55 | 6750115 Johnny Horscaulk
Johnny Horscaulk's picture

Murdoch just bought Nat Geo and is laying off all the talent.

To be replaced with idiot Israel Firster propagandists, no doubt.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/03/national-geographic-layoffs...

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:59 | 6750138 knukles
knukles's picture

As if NatGeo wasn't already a dies in the wool NWO mouthpiece.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:02 | 6750152 Johnny Horscaulk
Johnny Horscaulk's picture

I'm less and less political the more I figure the zombies are coming no matter what.

I'm mostly concerned here that there will be fewer boobies.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:12 | 6750205 PrimalScream
PrimalScream's picture

very sorry to hear that.  I hope that they don't mutilate Natl Geo.  they had some great photographers. 

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:19 | 6750239 Kaiser Sousa
Kaiser Sousa's picture

this truly is the End...

my friend.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:55 | 6750116 Gatos Locos
Gatos Locos's picture

Chainsaw Al would be proud.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 16:55 | 6750119 Kaiser Sousa
Kaiser Sousa's picture

is the bullish for stocks??

im new here.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:07 | 6750180 stant
stant's picture

All ya need to know here is BTFD. Since LEE MON. bitchez!!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:00 | 6750836 venturen
venturen's picture

or BTFATH

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:00 | 6750139 youngman
youngman's picture

But why in Hell would anyone move a company to Chicago....they are going to tax you to death...

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:07 | 6750177 Never One Roach
Never One Roach's picture

"Tax Inversion"

 

Tax inversion, or corporate inversion, is a largely American term for the relocation of a corporation's legal domicile to a lower-tax nation, or corporate haven, usually while retaining its material operations in its higher-tax country of origin.

 

For Dummies: Get all the gubmint benefits without paying for them.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:02 | 6750141 Rainman
Rainman's picture

When Rahm, Cuomo and Schumer 'cut a deal ' to make jobs you know it has something to do with a tax free reacharound. Taxes are for the smurfs.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:12 | 6750203 Normalcy Bias
Normalcy Bias's picture

Governor Cuomo said: I'm just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. The prospect of these across the board closures frightens and confuses me! Sometimes the honking horns of your traffic make me want to get out of my BMW.. and run off into the hills, or wherever...

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:01 | 6750842 Falling Down
Falling Down's picture

+1,000,000 on the Phil Hartman reference.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:22 | 6750241 centerline
centerline's picture

... deleted.  (found my sense of self control).  Carry on.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:00 | 6750143 Callz d Ballz
Callz d Ballz's picture

making room for more stock buy backs using cheap money #winning!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:01 | 6750147 whackedinflorida
whackedinflorida's picture

If you depend on making hotdogs, ketchup, velveeta or jello (all kraft products) for your living, or big macs, Coke, or any other number of synthetic food items, time to get another job and stop poisoning your fellow citizens. 

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:01 | 6750148 Johnny Horscaulk
Johnny Horscaulk's picture

"Over the next 12-24 months, he said, production in those locations will shift to other existing factories in North America."

Does that mean anything other than Mexico?

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:03 | 6750157 buzzsaw99
buzzsaw99's picture

north america, lulz. as if i needed yet another reason not to buy kraft products.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:04 | 6750163 PrimalScream
PrimalScream's picture

I draw the line here.

Ketchup is an essential vitamin and mineral!

Call out the National Guard!!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:05 | 6750165 SheepDog-One
SheepDog-One's picture

DOW down a meager -50, but news headlines are all perplexed hand wringing....'What has caused the rally to be stalled?' etc.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:07 | 6750182 RogerMud
RogerMud's picture

for severance they receives a lifetime supply of processed foodztuff!

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:08 | 6750184 Seasmoke
Seasmoke's picture

The DemocRAT stink, is strong with this one. 

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:11 | 6750202 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  >KRAFT HEINZ SEES INVESTING HUNDREDS MILLIONS INTO MODERNIZATION

  So, we're to assume that Skynet will be taking over production at all facilities and humans will become obsolete over the next several years, followed by additional layoffs after said humans finish training the new H-1B robots.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:21 | 6750229 moonmac
moonmac's picture

Warren Buffett called Hank Paulson at 3AM and woke him out of bed begging for a bailout. At first Hank thought it was his mom’s gardener who is also named Warren but soon realized it was the world’s richest man on the other end crying that he needs to do something. A few days after that TARP was announced. I tried finding the interview on CNBC’s website shortly after it aired but it was nowhere to be found. (Maria B interview with Hank Paulson ca2009)

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:25 | 6750270 Falconsixone
Falconsixone's picture

Fuck buffet

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:29 | 6750306 moonmac
moonmac's picture

Warren Buffett is constantly crying to the American public that he doesn’t pay enough taxes. Meanwhile he searches the globe to hire the smartest accountants in the world to find every loop hole, grey area and tax dodging scheme to avoid paying more taxes.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:58 | 6750471 Bazza McKenzie
Bazza McKenzie's picture

Correction, Buffett is constantly crying that YOU don't pay enough taxes.  He thinks it's his right to pay none.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:34 | 6750341 Phillyguy
Phillyguy's picture

How can the US economy possibly improve when jobs are being eliminated? This decreases purchasing power, reducing consumption further. For more info, see: US On Road To Third World by Paul Craig Roberts; Link: www.paulcraigroberts.org/2015/10/29/us-on-road-to-third-world-paul-craig...

 

 

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:37 | 6750348 moonmac
moonmac's picture

Instead of investing his billions to rebuild America’s Rust Belt Warren just manipulates the Fed’s Easy Money to become even richer while destroying jobs and our country! Building successful American companies is hard work. It’s so much easier to gamble on rigged markets that he helped fix.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:39 | 6750366 Dethrone The Ba...
Dethrone The Banksters's picture

screw Heinz screw Kraft we don't need their GMO Garbage; if you work for them, and get laid off, I feel no sympathy for you as you were working for one of the more evil companies out there

 

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 17:40 | 6750370 williambanzai7
williambanzai7's picture

They can all become professonal Facebook posters...

Merry Christmas Amerika

From Warren Buffoon

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 18:29 | 6750657 yogibear
yogibear's picture

Buffet liked to take Becky Quickie for a ride.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 18:31 | 6750668 PhiBetaZappa
PhiBetaZappa's picture

Breaking news: when you close a factory the workers aren't layed off, they're sacked. There's no going back to a 'closed' factory. They won't be unemployed long though since they'll no longer be counted once their benefits run out.

By the end of the 70's, in what was once America, the word layoff no longer had any job related meaning. 

 

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 18:44 | 6750747 moonmac
moonmac's picture

During the Great Depression my just off the boat relatives had their hours cut to just a few days a week, but everything needed to survive came down in price so they were all fine and spent their new free time going to parks and fishing. WWII was much worse because they had to ration food and their friends and relatives were getting killed.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 18:37 | 6750705 GeezerGeek
GeezerGeek's picture

It wasn't a bloodbath. It was merely vast quantities of spilled Heinz Ketchup.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 18:42 | 6750733 FreeNewEnergy
FreeNewEnergy's picture

The deal Senator Sellout, er, Schumer and governess Cum on, er Cuomo worked out will cost the state $20 million.They've agreed to match Kraft/Heinz dollar-for-dollar on improvements to three upstate facilities over the next five years.

So, to keep those 1000 jobs, the rest of NY taxpayers shell out $20 million with another $5 million promised if K/H lives up to their end of the deal.

Sheeeeit! I need to open a biz, employ some guys for a few months, then tell the government I'm shutting down unless they pony up. Seems to be the ploy in play here.

I find no good reason to spend taxpayer money to keep private jobs. Let the economy collapse on its own, you socialist morons. Fuck, I hate Cuomo, but not as much as the senator from Israel.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:12 | 6750910 Nanur
Nanur's picture

This is what the JOB CREATORS do with their "tax cuts to create jobs"

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:14 | 6750918 Nanur
Nanur's picture

Proving once again the only true job creators are the mom&pop small businesses.  And they create jobs WITHOUT corporate welfare

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:22 | 6750950 1stepcloser
1stepcloser's picture

Synergies are a bitch and makes old fucking billionaires richer.   Why doesn't Becky Cunt Quick interview the newly unemployed on snatch box

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:21 | 6750961 orangegeek
orangegeek's picture

and the economic recovery continues

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 19:36 | 6751053 MASTER OF UNIVERSE
MASTER OF UNIVERSE's picture

Americans are Communists that support the fatherland with millions in Corporate Welfare so that they can turn around and claim that 'Capitalism' works in a 'free market' system.

 

Up yours, Wall Street, you pinkO commie Chicago School Neo-Liberal antiquated douchebag scumsucking slimeball dork-for-brains functional retards.

 

fuck you, and the bus you rolled in on, wankers.

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 20:40 | 6751421 gregga777
gregga777's picture

Now another industry will have a government approved monopoly. I'm sure that monopoly will be good for the American People in the same way that the media industry monopoly has been good for the American People. NOT!!! /sarcasm off

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 23:53 | 6752246 InanimateCarbonRod
InanimateCarbonRod's picture

Good ol' Santa Warren has done more, as an individual capitalist, to destroy the American Dream more than generations of graduates from Harvard.  He is a lean mean wrecking machine, putting more Americans out of work than any other group.

Boycott the sonofabitch and all of the shitty companies he actually owns.

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