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Kraft Heinz wants to slim down as Americans lose their taste for processed food

Kraft Heinz is preparing to spin off a large portion of its grocery business — which could mean ditching Kraft-branded staples like boxed mac & cheese, Oscar Mayer classic wieners, and frozen meals, according to the WSJ. The new entity could be worth ~$20 billion, with the remaining company leaning into faster-growing condiments and sauces, such as Heinz ketchup and Grey Poupon mustard. 

The possible split follows six straight quarters of sales declines, as inflation-weary shoppers pulled back on spending and health-conscious consumers continued to drift away from preservative-packed staples. In fact, it also marks a broader pivot from Kraft’s roots in processed cheese, the very product that built the company’s legacy over a century ago, having fueled everything from war rations to school lunches.

But Americans aren’t as into processed foods and long-life staples as they used to be — ask canned goods specialist Del Monte, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month.

According to the USDA, per-capita consumption of natural cheese has surged 3.6x over the past five decades, while processed cheese consumption has barely changed — a trend that’s shown up in Kraft Heinz’s own sales, with cheese and dairy making up just 14% of its revenue in 2023, down from a 21% share in 2016.

If finalized, the spinoff would partially unwind the 2015 megamerger that created today’s Kraft Heinz — a deal backed by Warren Buffett and 3G Capital that aimed to build the next processed food powerhouse. Instead, the company has since shed more than 60% of its market value, and Buffett himself (still Kraft Heinz's largest shareholder through Berkshire Hathaway) later admitted he had “overpaid” for the deal.

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Airbnb wants to be so much more than just short-term home rentals

Uber and Airbnb were poster children of Web 2.0 — app-first solutions to get us somewhere and ensure we had a place to stay when we got there.

Both run as marketplaces, with drivers and hosts supplying the service and the platforms offering a trusted place for buyers and sellers to find each other, taking a slice of every ride, trip, and stay. And both, after burning billions of venture capital dollars, have essentially achieved what their pitch decks from the 2010s would have promised: get big enough to go public and dominate their respective markets.

But recently, Uber’s stock has been soaring, while Airbnb’s has taken a detour.

In Q1, Uber reported gross bookings of ~$42.8 billion, some $11.5 billion (~27%) of which turned into revenue for the ride-sharing giant. Airbnb, meanwhile, had a net take rate of about 9%, which meant revenue of just ~$2.3 billion, or about one-fifth of Uber’s figure.

So, when did Uber get so much bigger?

In short, Uber found new ways to grow, doubling down on food delivery and logistics. That’s paid off handsomely since, with $20.4 billion worth of “delivery” bookings in Q1 — just 4% less than the haul from its rides business. Perhaps even more importantly, Uber seems closer to the action on AI, thanks primarily to its collab with self-driving pioneer Waymo, which you can now order via Uber in Austin and Atlanta.

Meanwhile, Airbnb’s attempts to expand outside of its core offering have been more gradual. In May, the company announced a push into experiences and services, aiming to be a one-stop shop for everything beyond a bed that you might need to have an unforgettable trip (like a private chef, a tour, or a massage).

Though that’s a nice touch that some treat-seeking holidaymakers will likely get a kick out of, it hasn’t captured investors’ imaginations the way Uber’s roadmap has.

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The summer is heating up – is your portfolio doing the same?

As of 6/30/2025 the Nasdaq-100^® returned 8.3% year to date, topping the S&P 500 by 2.1 percentage points. This continued a trend of outperformance.

Specifically, as of 6/30/25, the Nasdaq-100 delivered a 26.4% trailing 3-year annualized return compared to 19.7% for S&P 500. Similarly, the Nasdaq-100 delivered a 18.4% trailing 5-year annualized return compared to 16.6% for S&P 500.¹

The Nasdaq-100 Index^® (NDX^®) represents the 100 largest, most dynamic non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market^®.

From major players across the technology, healthcare, and consumer goods sectors, the index is home to some of the most innovative companies in the world, including the Magnificent Seven.

Record-high coffee prices poised to keep rising on upcoming Brazil tariffs

Anyone who relies on a morning cup of coffee will have noticed how much their caffeine kick has been setting them back of late.

Now, as the Trump administration prepares to impose a 50% tariff on imports from Brazil to the US from August 1, people may have to fork out even more.

Coffee prices have recently surged to an all-time high, hitting $7.93 per pound of ground roast coffee in May — up from $5.99 in the same month last year, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data reported by The New York Times.

The tariffs, announced on Wednesday, could see the world’s largest coffee grower halt new shipments to the world’s largest coffee drinker altogether if enacted. Per Reuters, the US imported more than 8.1 million 60-kilogram bags — one-third of its total consumption — of the product from Brazil last year.

With coffee supplies already tightening as droughts have squeezed harvests, wholesale costs could rise as much as 50% if these tariffs take effect, the Times reported, which could translate to a price hike of $0.25 a cup.

It’s worth noting that coffee drinkers have had it pretty good for years. In fact, adjusted for inflation, the price of coffee hasn’t gone up that much relative to other stuff. Using the BLS’s Inflation Calculator, had coffee tracked the wider rate of inflation over the last 45 years, the $3.21 per pound that we paid back in 1980 would actually be closer to $13 per pound today.

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Did you know that consumer companies make up >20% of the Nasdaq-100 by weight? Explore A Day in the Life of the Nasdaq-100 to see how many of these companies you’re interacting with daily.

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1 Annualized index returns are calculated using the following annualization formula: [[ending value of investment/beginning value of investment]^(1/number of years)]-1. Partial year returns use the holding period return formula: (ending value of investment/beginning value of investment)-1. 

 Past performance is not indicative of future results. Index performance is for illustrative purposes only and does not reflect any management fees, transaction costs or expenses. Indexes are unmanaged and one cannot invest directly in an index. 

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