Philip Morris Acquires Kraft: An Overview

(1)When Philip Morris, Inc. moved to acquire Kraft, Inc., it did so for several reasons: first and foremost, PM has made a lion's share (80%) of its fortune in tobacco and tobacco products. Putting aside for the moment the obvious (and numerous) health problems that such products are known to cause, and seemingly despite them, PM continues to manufacture the leading brand of cigarettes, Marlboro-and continues to sell its products internationally at a greater rate than ever before. But its management was not totally naive about the future, either: in America, tobacco has fallen at least somewhat out of favor, and may in fact someday be completely illegal. Therefore, much like R.J. Reynolds and other major tobacco companies have done and continue to do, PM leadership looked around for an even "surer thing" than tobacco and found it-in food. It's an obvious choice. As...
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