Feb 19, 2017

Kraft Heinz gives up on Unilever

Warren Buffett made the call, the Financial Times reports:

Two people close to the talks said Warren Buffett and 3G's Jorge Paulo Lemann, the major Heinz Kraft shareholders, decided on Sunday morning to withdraw the bid after they concluded that a protracted public battle to take over Unilever would have caused more damage than good.

News of the possible deal, which at $143 billion would have been one of the biggest ever, broke Friday, when Unilever rejected it. Kraft vowed to press on, but the damage was done. More from the FT:

Another person said that the early leaking of Kraft's interest in Unilever made it hard for the US company to negotiate a deal that would have been more attractive for both sides. "Kraft Heinz was ready to make a lot of concessions, including taking on the Unilever name, to make this deal happen but unfortunately it leaked too early and that made it hard negotiate," this person said.

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Axios
Updated 8 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Coronavirus dashboard

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 32,471,119 — Total deaths: 987,593 — Total recoveries: 22,374,557 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 10 p.m. ET: 7,032,524 — Total deaths: 203,657 — Total recoveries: 2,727,335 — Total tests: 99,483,712 — Map.
  3. States: "We’re not closing anything going forward": Florida fully lifts COVID restaurant restrictions — Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam tests positive for coronavirus.
  4. Health: Young people accounted for 20% of cases this summer.
  5. Business: Coronavirus has made airports happier places —The expiration of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance looms.
  6. Education: Where bringing students back to school is most risky.
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Mike Allen, author of AM
11 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Biden pushes unity message in new TV wave

A fresh Joe Biden ad, "New Start," signals an effort by his campaign to make unity a central theme, underscoring a new passage in his stump speech that says he won't be a president just for Democrats but for all Americans.

What he's saying: The ad — which began Friday night, and is a follow-up to "Fresh Start" — draws from a Biden speech earlier in the week in Manitowoc, Wisconsin:

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Jonathan Swan, Alayna Treene, Sam Baker
11 hours ago - Politics & Policy

Trump prepares to announce Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court replacement

Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Photo: Matt Cashore/Notre Dame University via Reuters

President Trump is preparing to nominate federal appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett of Indiana, a favorite of both the social conservative base and Republican elected officials, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Republican sources tell Axios.

Why it matters: Barrett would push the already conservative court further and harder to the right, for decades to come, on the most important issues in American politics — from abortion to the limits of presidential power. If confirmed, she would give conservatives a 6-3 majority on the high court.

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