Warren Buffett — billionaire investor, philanthropist, Bill Ackman dream crusher.
Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Ackman's hedge fund, Pershing Square, had taken a $5.5 billion stake in Mondelez, the snack company behind Oreo's and Ritz crackers with a $74.8 billion market cap.
According to the report, Pershing would likely try to sell Mondelez to an even bigger food company — like Buffett-owned Kraft Heinz — or slash costs in a big way.
Of course, for that to happen Kraft Heinz would have to agree to buy Mondelez, which Kraft spun out in 2012.
Unfortunately for Ackman, however, it looks like Buffett is not into the idea. Buffett said in an interview with CNBC on Monday morning that he thinks Kraft Heinz isn't likely to buy something as expensive as Mondelez.
“At Kraft Heinz, we have our work cut out for us for a couple of years,” Buffett said. “Frankly, most of the food companies sell at prices that it would be very hard for us to make a deal even if we had done all the work needed at Kraft Heinz.”
Bummer.
There is another activist hedge fund with a big stake in Mondelez — Nelson Peltz's Trian Partners. That fund was agitating for Mondelez to sell itself to Pepsi for over a year. Pepsi, however, wouldn't bite.
Who knows if they'll find a buyer for this thing.
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